


Holding Out For A Hero

by Honor_and_glory_to_the_empire



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Adora (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Adora Has Issues (She-Ra), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And so does Micah, Beast Island (She-Ra), Gen, Micah (She Ra) need a hug, Turns out being alone for years hurts ones sanity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:13:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 41,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27633914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honor_and_glory_to_the_empire/pseuds/Honor_and_glory_to_the_empire
Summary: Adora and Catra always looked out for each other. So when one of Catra's plans goes wrong Adora took the fall without hesitation.Unfortunately this time it ended with an exile to Beast Island. But Adora wasn't worried, Catra would rescue her...Right?
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora & Micah (She-Ra), Adora/Entrapta (She-Ra), Catra/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Comments: 82
Kudos: 182
Collections: Shera





	1. Prelude

It was amazing how quickly her life had been absolutely ruined.

In all honesty Adora was absolutely amazed at how quickly it had happened.

All it had taken one poor decision on her part. One bad choice for her life to go right down the toilet.

But perhaps she should back up.

It had been a regular day at first, the usual things had happened and life went on. She hung out with Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle. She and Catra chatted and laughed through training.

It had been nice.

Then after training, Adora and Catra decided to head up to their regular spot overlooking the Fright Zone when Catra got an idea.

* * *

“Catra, that’s a terrible idea.” Adora told her best friend in the most firm tone she could manage.

“No, no it’s perfect!” Catra insisted. “We go in, see what exactly is in there and get out. Then we will _literally_ have been everywhere in the Fright Zone.”

“Catra.” Adora said slowly. “You’ve had some pretty bad ideas, remember snail armour? But this idea takes the full _ration bar_ of bad ideas.”

But Catra just rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, don’t be such a square. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“We get caught and sent to Beast Island.”

“Then at least we’ll be there together.” Catra nudged her side gently. “Besides, we’re just some rookies and Shadow Weaver always sticks up for you. If we get caught, odds are that we’ll just be put on some horrible assignment.”

Adora bit her upper lip in worry. “But trying to get into lord Hordak’s personal sanctum…”

“It’ll be fun.” Catra claimed. “Trust me.”

Normally Adora would say something along the lines of, ‘yes I trust you, but this is just a bad idea’ but today something shifted and she decided to go along with her friend’s idea.

An hour or so later and they had managed to get to get just outside the vents to the sanctum, Catra unscrewed them while Adora kept a watch out.

“Come on Catra.” Adora stage-whispered to Catra.

“One more minute.” Catra hissed back as Adora’s heart started racing.

There were footsteps coming nearer, if they were discovered then they would be in major trouble.

“C- Catra!” Adora whisper yelled with more urgency than before.

“Hold on…”

The footsteps grew louder and louder…

“…Now.” Catra said triumphantly as she moved the grate, entering the ducts followed shortly by Adora herself who put the grate back on just in time for the patrol to pass them.

“Too close.” Adora breathed. “That was _too_ close.”

“Just this once, I agree.” Catra replied. “Now come on, lets get in and out.”

They crawled along the vents and ducts, keeping a reasonable pace so that they wouldn’t make too much noise. But of course finding the precise vent that would lead to lord Hordak’s sanctum was a difficult task, even more difficult when one didn’t have a map of the vent system.

But they managed and after what seemed like a full hour of searching, they finally managed to find it. They left the vent, taking the upmost care to make absolutely no noise.

The sanctum was different from how Adora had imagined it, looking much more like a weird science lab than a private place for the leader of the Horde to live in.

They stood there for a few moments, taking in the almost electrifying atmosphere before they both jumped at a loud noise.

It was lord Hordak himself, looking absolutely furious at something. He torn through the room like a thunderstorm, cracking desks and floors in rage.

Adora looked at Catra, and Catra looked at Adora.

In silent agreement they agreed that they needed to leave. _Now._

Catra went first, slipping up into the vents, ready for Adora to follow her.

Then it happened, one split second, truly bad decision.

Adora decided to steal one last glance at lord Hordak, but because of this her foot hit a wrench, sending a loud noise that seemed to echo around the room which suddenly became very quiet.

Adora paused for a moment before making a mad dash for the vent, but she was too late and the last thing she saw before the dark of unconsciousness took her was Catra’s scared face obscured in the vent.

* * *

The choice to take one last glance at Hordak.

That is what cost her everything.

What happened next was fairly simple.

When she came to Adora found herself tied to a chair and was interrogated by lord Hordak himself. Lots of questions about spying and treason in what was the single most terrifying experience of her life.

But she realised quickly that she couldn’t say anything without also implicating Catra, so she gave evasive answers and refused to speak when asked certain questions.

The pain came next, quite a brutal beating if memory served her well and it often did.

The final blow had knocked her unconscious again and next she knew Adora was in the middle of a cell. Even worse, according to her guards Adora had been found guilty of treason with the maximum penalty being inflicted.

Adora was to be sent to Beast Island.

Then Shadow Weaver came to visit.

* * *

“Leave us.”

Adora slowly opened her eyes and forced herself into a sitting position and turned to see her visitor.

Shadow Weaver.

“My dear Adora, what have they done to you?” Shadow Weaver said in what was a softer version of her regular tone.

She gently moved her hand over the side of Adora’s face, causing her to wince as pain from her untreated wounds flared back up.

“My dear, this should help…” Shadow Weaver moved her hand in some form of spell and Adora could feel many, but not all, of her wounds/bruises heal.

“Thank you.” Adora said, the first time she’d spoken in days.

“Always my dear.” Shadow Weaver said. “But Adora, I need to know, this business of you and you alone infiltrating Hordak’s sanctum, is it true?”

Adora’s head dipped down, thoughts of Catra in her head. “Yes.”

Catra hasn’t even been down to see her yet, most likely because she didn’t know where Adora was or couldn’t find a way to see her.

“But you weren’t alone were you?” Shadow Weaver said knowingly. “Catra was there as well, wasn’t she?”

Adora said nothing, but clearly her face told it all.

“It doesn’t have to be this way you know.” Shadow Weaver said with her voice as sweet as poison. “Say it, say Catra was with you and I can get you out of here. All the blame can go to her, it was all her idea after all, wasn’t it?”

For one dark moment, Adora considered the offer. But the moment passed as quickly as it came. Her loyalty to her best friend proved too strong.

Catra would not suffer because of her again.

“It was me and me alone.” Adora said defiantly, looking Shadow Weaver directly in the eye.

“Don’t be a fool.” Shadow Weaver hissed. “I know that this was Catra’s fault, if you don’t turn her in then you will _suffer_.”

“I was _alone_.” Adora repeated.

Shadow Weaver stood upright.

“Then I cannot help you.” She said, sincere sadness in her tone.

Shadow Weaver left, leaving Adora alone.

* * *

A few days later and Adora was taken out of her cell and to the throne room, Hordak himself had sat on his chair, looking rather bored or maybe it was vengeful? Adora couldn’t remember.

In fact she could only remember two things from her sentencing.

One was that Catra was there, looking worse than Adora had ever seen her. In fact Adora suspected that only the combined efforts of Lonnie, Rogelio and Kyle kept her from trying to attack Hordak.

The second thing was that Adora distinctly remembered crying.

Adora never cried in public, it was sign of weakness after all and Adora had never been the type anyway.

There were no sobs or anything, just tears streaming down her face through the whole ordeal.

No defence had been offered on her part, no words spoken. Her tears spoke loud enough.

Later that day Adora had left with the prison transport, an uneventful journey mostly because Adora genuinely had no idea what she was going to do.

They dropped her off with a ‘survival kit’ that contained the most bare bones supplies imaginable as was tradition with those being left on Beast Island.

Then the transport had left, Adora had watched blankly as it vanished into the distance as the reality of the situation set in.

* * *

And that is what led to Adora being where she was now.

Stranded on what could barely be considered a beach, a rudimentary campfire burning as the night rolled in.

The transport had left hours ago and Adora’s only action had been to rather robotically set up camp. The situation refused to be processed by her head, memories of the last week playing on loop in her mind.

It refused to make sense in her mind.

Adora had all the facts but they refused to click together.

But it was late, she should sleep.

Adora opened the survival kit and looked for something that could be used as a blanket. She found nothing, apparently keeping warm wasn’t a priority.

But then Adora spotted a small bump at the back of the survival pack, she opened it and out came a very familiar blanket, the one from her bunk.

A note fell out and Adora automatically caught it, reading all the words written.

_Hey Adora, I managed to sneak this into the survival pack, there should also be some_

_extra ration bars to help with survival. I’m so sorry. About everything. When you were_

_caught I was so scared, they wouldn’t let me see you and I couldn’t get into the jail._

_I am going to get you the first chance I can. As soon as I’ve got the clearance and the_

_location of Beast Island, I’ll come and get you and everything will be fine. Just hold on_

_for a little while longer, I promise that I will help you. I will save you. That is a promise._

_Love, Catra_

Adora read the note once. Then twice. Then thrice.

The fourth time it was damaged by water of an unknown source. No, not an unknown source. It was her tears as everything finally sunk in.

Her old life was gone.

She had no one left.

She had no idea what she was going to do next.

And so, Adora wrapped the blanket around her on the ground, holding tight to the note and wept.

Her sobs would echo through the night as she cried herself to sleep.

* * *

The next day Adora woke to the crashing sounds of waves against the shoreline.

Groggily, Adora forced herself upright. She was sad, but why?

A few moments later memories of the past week flooded back into her head.

Ah yes, that would do it.

Adora felt around for Catra’s note, finding it rather quickly, and read it a few dozen more times.

She then felt the relentless pull of hunger and dug herself out a ration bar to eat.

While she chewed it, Adora pondered on what exactly she should do next.

Beast Island was the stuff of nightmares in all the fairy tales. No one ever came back. It was used as the equivalent of a death sentence for a reason.

And in all honesty, on the beach under the warmth of the morning sun, it didn’t seem to be all that bad.

But then Adora would look at the interior of the island, which loomed large with an oppressive atmosphere and darkness that loomed terribly and Adora _knew_ the stories existed for a reason.

At least the beach seemed fairly safe.

It was then that Adora decided on a mission objective for the day. She would explore the beach and scavenge for supplies to help her survive.

Survival would be Adora’s top priority until Catra could come and get her.

Adora knew Catra would rescue her, she’d made a _promise_ and Catra had _never_ broken a promise to Adora.

Adora smiled at the thought.

Mind made up, Adora got to work on creating an inventory of all the supplies she had on hand.

It wasn’t much, just some ration bars, a flashlight, a lighter, some out of date painkillers and the blanket that Catra had sent.

But this, this was fine.

After making sure that all her supplies were indeed secure, Adora set off down the beach, keeping an eye out for anything that might be useful.

This itself proved to be a more difficult task than one would think. There was a lot of scrap metal across the beach most likely from other people that had been sent here before.

The beach itself would end up being about two miles long, although that was only a guess. Her salvaging efforts did prove fairly successful, granting her an extra flashlight, a dozen or so coins and twenty unopened ration bars.

(The ration bars apparently went out of date last year according to the packaging.)

But the real prize was the skiff.

It was very damaged, the engine was quiet clearly busted, but the skiff was invaluable. With it, Adora could create something of a portable shelter. The only problem would be that it was a tad heavy and therefor hard to move.

But Adora did her best, forcing the skiff into a more reasonable position for dragging it across the beach at a later date. Some rope would be best for any further efforts, but unfortunately she didn’t have any and it looked to be around the afternoon already.

Well, there was nothing else for it, so Adora started to push the skiff towards her current encampment. Taking care to stay off her right knee which still was busted from Hordak’s assault.

Soon enough Adora had worked up quite a sweat and the watchful night began to close in.

So, exhaustedly, Adora left the skiff where it was and returned back to her camp and lit the fire again. A quick dinner of ration bars was had, before Adora curled back up into the blanket and read Catra’s note until she fell asleep once more.

But as she did so, Adora could almost swear that she could hear something, like a noise trying to lure her deeper into the island. She had a really bad feeling about this.

* * *

The next few weeks would follow a fairly simple routine. Adora would get up, eat a ration bar, walk to the skiff and push it further to her camp. In the afternoon, Adora would try and catch some fish from the ocean, success happened only about a third of the time, and Adora would read Catra’s note as often as she could, despite it already being burned into her memory. She’d exercise in the evenings and fall asleep.

But weeks soon turned into what could pass for months.

There was no Catra on the horizon, the skiff was finally set up and converted into a makeshift shelter for Adora’s camp and the noise grew ever louder and more frequent.

In her lesser moments Adora would be very tempted to follow it deeper into the island, but then the stories of her childhood would flare up in her mind.

At many points she’d hallucinate. Visions of Catra to taunt her, of Shadow Weaver to say how disappointed she was, of everyone she’d ever knew.

But it always ended the same, they’d say that Adora wasn’t worth it and leave her. Fun times right?

But she managed, kept herself alive despite what the hallucinations said.

Then the inevitable happened.

Adora ran out of food.

* * *

Nothing.

She check again.

Nothing.

Adora had no more ration bars left. All of them were eaten and she had very little fish left.

This was fine. She could get some more fish from the sea, sure it would mean that eating would be a lot less frequent, but Adora could manage.

Catra would be here any day now and they’d get off this awful island.

**_But Catra hadn’t come had she?_ **

That… that was true but… Catra promised, she was coming.

**_Catra wasn’t coming. If she was she’d be here by now._ **

**_Catra had forgotten her._ **

No, Catra… Catra wouldn’t.

**_Then why wasn’t she here right now?_ **

“Shut up.” Adora said, the first time she’d spoken in a long time.

**_She was completely alone._ **

“Shut up!” Adora screamed this time, falling to her knees as she did so.

Whatever the voice was seemed to heed her words this time and Adora was left alone with her thoughts. Her _real_ thoughts.

But the damage had been done and Adora was left with a few ugly facts.

First, she was alone and had been alone here for some time.

Second, people were not supposed to be alone for long periods of time, they needed others to interact with.

Third, Adora had no idea when Catra was coming… if Catra was coming.

Fourth, she couldn’t stay on the island for much longer. Adora had no food and could recognise that her mental state would decline if she stayed here much longer.

It all added up to one thing.

Adora needed to get off the island.

And she knew just how to do it, if she converted the skiff into a boat then she could just sail away.

It would be hard to do it without proper tools, but she could manage. Her blanket could do as a sail and most of the work on it would be simple.

The only thing that she was missing was some rope.

Adora turned to look at the ominous entrance to the rest of the island, the only place where she might find some.

Adora was scared, but she could always have courage.

She would get the rope, create a boat and escape the island. After that…

Adora honestly had no idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of that chapter.
> 
> Welcome one and all to my latest story, with the basic premise being that Adora is sent to Beast Island after taking the fall for something Catra did.
> 
> Of course trying to find a Beast Island worthy offense for Adora to take the fall for was hard, but I think sneaking into Hordak's lab while he's enraged is good enough. It might be a little faster paced than what I originally intended, but as a prelude I think it does well.
> 
> I'd also like to announce that I'm looking for a Beta to help with the story, so if anyone's interested PM me on FFN.
> 
> Thanks everyone for reading, and stick around as next time Adora encounters the only other person on Beast Island. Till then I'll catch ya'll on the flip flop.


	2. The Old Man And Adora

Adora could confidently say that all the stories about Beast Island, about the monsters that lurked in the shadows and the infamously oppressive atmosphere where in fact not true.

It was all _so_ much worse than that.

Unnatural shapes made of metal protruded from the ground and very little light broke through.

Odds were that this it was the type of location that the monsters would gather at. The chippits with razor-sharp teeth, scruffers with razor sharp horns, and razor-fins with razor-sharp teeth. (The Horde wasn’t very creative with name choices)

None of them had bothered Adora on the beach but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t attack her here.

All she had was her rusty knife, so Adora tried to be silent as she crept along the island landscape stopping every few minutes to inspect her surroundings.

Adora kept her eyes open and constantly scanned for something that could pass for ropes, but suddenly everything went quiet. Most of the island did consist for strange twisted metal pieces that looked like trees. Even the constant droning noise that had filled her head for months now had gone silent, causing Adora to tense up.

Then she saw it; it looked like a massive snake made of metal, lurking up and around what passed for ‘trees’ around here.

She froze in her tracks. Maybe it couldn’t see her.

But those hopes were immediately dashed when the snake monster gave a mighty roar and charged her, causing Adora to turn tail and run as fast as she could, ducking and dodging under the metal foliage which didn’t so much as slow down the monster.

Barely dodging the snake’s latest bite, Adora was forced to combat roll out of the way as the monster charged. But she wasn’t fast enough and she was hit in the side, sending her flying into a clearing.

The snake roared as it circled Adora, whose only response was to ready her knife. She would not go down without a fight.

But what happened next truly shocked Adora.

He sported a cloak and long, grey-brown hair with a beard; wielding a staff of some kind, he bashed the brains of the snake in. Strange blue lights came from the staff as the snake finally went still. She had just been saved by another living person.

The man looked at her, seemingly as shocked as she was to see another living person on the island. He’d obviously been here a while, most likely longer than Adora herself. All his robes were torn and ragged, more so than Adora’s own Horde uniform.

And he wasn’t a hallucination. While it had been a small while since they’d appeared, her hallucinations were typically about people she knew, like Catra or Shadow Weaver. Not complete strangers.

“H- Hello.” Adora said hesitantly, her own voice sounding hoarse after not speaking aloud for so long.

But he didn’t reply. Instead just looking at her like she had grown two heads.

“My name is A- Adora.” She introduced herself nervously. “Who… who are you?”

That seemed to snap him out of his stupor. “Apologies. It's been... quite some time since I've talked to anyone else. Anyone real, that is. And you are real, right?”

“I’m fairly certain,” Adora replied.

“Good, good.” He clapped his hands together and then held one out to shake. “My name is Micah, pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Adora shook his hand. “I’m Adora, but I said that already.”

Micah quickly looked around as if he’d been spooked by something. “There's no time for pleasantries! We have to move quick, follow me!”

He then ran off, forcing Adora to give chase at a slightly slower pace due to her busted knee, the infection it had gotten ensure that it had never entirely healed from all those months ago. Micah would take sharp and sudden turns as if to throw off someone or something. Then he came to a sudden stop and did _something_ to the ground.

“We should be able to rest here for a moment. A safe, quiet moment,” Micah said, relief clear in his voice.

“What did you do to the ground?” Adora asked, out of breath.

“I used some magic to make us safe for the time being,” he explained to Adora’s horror.

“ _Magic,_ ” Adora repeated in an awed whisper. “Like the rebellion uses?”

“The rebellion? That’s still going on?” Micah asked. “Tell me, what’s the world like these days?”

Adora hesitated before speaking. “I… I don’t know. The Horde was winning when last I saw them a few months ago.”

“Huh, and why were you sent to Beast Island?” Micah asked bluntly. “If I’m not mistaken, your uniform is something Horde soldiers wear. Why are you here?”

“I- I broke into Hordak’s private sanctum with my friend,” Adora admitted. “I was caught when he was in a really bad mood and refused to give up my friend, so I was sent here for keeping her safe.”

Micah looked solemn at that and nodded. “A very noble reason.”

“What about you? Why are you here?” Adora asked her newfound friend(?), slightly taken aback by how he’d just taken the fact she was from the Horde in stride.

“I was a part of the rebellion a long time ago,” he admitted after a few moments. “I used to be the king of Brightmoon and was captured in battle. Rather than just kill me they sent me to here as a fate worse than death.” Micah chuckled. “But the joke’s on them; I managed to stay sane in spite of the signal.”

“The signal?” Adora asked. “Is that the name of that constant noise?”

“You've heard it?” He chuckled darkly. “This place is a mass of ancient tech. It’s mostly degraded but some of it still works. And something at the centre of that island never stopped signalling. The signal dulls your resolve, exposes your vulnerabilities; it pulls you in. Everything that stays on Beast Island becomes a part of it eventually.”

Adora processed this information for a few moments before shaking her head defiantly. “No. Not me. I’m going to get out of here and off this damn island.”

Micah considered her words for a few moments before asking, “How long have you been here anyway?”

“A few months I think, I… I stopped counting a little while ago,” Adora admitted, and in all honesty the reason she’d stopped was because it was just plain depressing.

“Well, you’ve lasted longer than most,” he told her. “The majority only last three, maybe four, weeks before they give up. Where’ve you been camped at anyway?”

“The beach. I’ve mostly been salvaging stuff and fishing to survive,” Adora told him, pointing in the general direction of said beach.

“The beach? That makes sense, I’ve avoided that area for some time because a rather nasty pack of Pookas hunt around there. They must have moved recently then.”

Adora wasn’t sure exactly what a ‘pooka’ was, but she also did not want to find out.

“Anyway, I’m making a boat out of an old skiff that was left here but I needed rope, so I decided to look around here for some,” Adora explained. “Do you know where any would be?”

“Rope? I know a good substitute and I’ll lead you to it on one condition,” Micah said ominously. “You need to take me with you.”

Adora blinked. “Is that it? I was going to bring you with me anyway.”

“Really? I figured because you were Horde and I was a rebel…” Micah waved broadly. “You know.”

“Of course not!” Adora said, offended at the very thought. “ _No one_ deserves to be sent to this place.”

Micah gave her a wide, genuine smile. “Not many people would be that kind.” He then suddenly clapped his hands together, startling Adora.

“Now, I’ll show you where there’s some rope.”

* * *

“Uh, please tell me we're not lost!” Glimmer pleaded with her best friend.

“No, this thing is just acting up. Looks like it's being overloaded by the tech's signal,” Bow explained. “We must be getting close!”

Glimmer listened absently until she noticed a bright light in the forest. “Uhh... I think it's that way.”

“What makes you say that?” Bow noticed the light. “Oh, yeah. That'll do it.”

They began walking towards the forest, excitement swelling in Glimmer’s chest. They were going to find a genuine piece of First Ones tech and her mom would be impressed and maybe let her go on real missions.

“Bow, just let me lead the way, okay?” Glimmer said as they continued walking towards the light.

“The light came from the edge of the forest,” Bow stated the obvious.

“Yes, you saw the light,” Glimmer said impatiently. “It's this way.”

“The trackpad says otherwise,” Bow said, causing Glimmer to roll her eyes.

Glimmer pushed aside the shrubs. “It's this way.”

They had been led to a clearing where there was a lone sword, trapped in shrubbery branches.

“Is that it?” Glimmer asked while Bow checked his tracker pad.

“I guess.”

The duo went closer to the sword, Glimmer standing back as Bow inspected it. “It’s definitely First Ones tech.”

This sword had a golden hilt with a stone in turquoise-coloured opal embedded into it. The blade itself was light blue with First Ones' markings running down it.

Bow leaned in close to inspect it. “It’s nothing like any other First Ones tech I’ve ever seen. I have no idea what it could do.”

“Let’s find out,” Glimmer said, pulling the sword out of the branches before Bow could formulate his first word of protest.

And everything was fine.

Nothing weird or unexpected happened except that the sword was a little heavier than Glimmer expected it would be.

But Glimmer also couldn’t get rid of a feeling of wrongness with the sword in her hand, like the sword was just _meant_ for someone else.

“That’s it?” Bow asked, sounding just a little disappointed.

“I guess so,” Glimmer replied in the same disappointed tone.

Bow clapped his hands together. “Right, well the mission was a success then. Let’s head back to Brightmoon.”

Glimmer nodded reluctantly. “Right, let’s go home.”

As they left, Glimmer had a feeling that this was not how this encounter was supposed to go but she ignored it, putting it down to disappointment at a lack of action.

* * *

It had been almost exactly a year since Adora had been banished.

It was funny. Almost a year later and Catra could still remember every excruciating detail of that thrice damned week.

She’d ruined her best friend’s life.

Catra didn’t mean for it to happen; it was a stupid mistake. She had no idea that Hordak would be there and that he’d be so furious at something, a fury he’d turn on Adora of all people.

And Adora, the self-sacrificing idiot, had told no one of Catra’s involvement. People had suspected of course, but no one except Adora and herself knew the full truth.

Catra knew that she should have come forward; they’d have gone to Beast Island together. But she’d been a coward.

Catra loathed herself for it.

Instead of actually helping, she’d slipped Adora’s old blanket from her bunk, all of Kyle’s ration bars and a little note into the ‘survival’ pack that would come with Adora to the island.

The most bare bones help that she could give.

Then Adora was gone, sent to her doom.

The months after Catra had thought of everything she could to find out where exactly Beast Island was located, but no one would talk. Many days she considered just making enough trouble that _she_ would be sent to Beast Island as well.

But the problem with that plan was that she wouldn’t be guaranteed being sent there. There was a decent chance that she’d just be plain executed for her troubles instead.

And ideally, rescuing Adora would involve a way for them both to leave the island and not stay stranded there to be eaten by razor teeth monsters.

But as plan after plan failed, a new but terrifyingly real fear developed.

A fear that Adora was dead.

At first, Catra dismissed this possibility outright. Adora was one of the strongest people she knew, both physically and mentally. Adora always knew what to do next, always had a plan and could improvise like hell if it failed. Adora had been her best friend for as long as Catra could remember.

But the months rolled by, the fears took hold. No one ever escaped or survived on Beast Island. The stories about it were terrifying, the stuff of nightmares.

Adora had never seemed to be the type to die on an island in the middle of nowhere, but she also wasn’t the type to be exiled to such an island in the first place.

By month eight, Catra had accepted it.

Adora was most likely dead.

That revelation had happened late at night. It resulted in Catra crying herself to sleep and being snappy with everyone for the next few days.

But she soon calmed down, let herself process everything and tried to deal with the amount of guilt she had.

But what it manifested as was a promise.

She promised herself that she could become someone that Adora could be proud of. The best leader, friend and person she could be.

Catra promised that she would be the person Adora would have been proud of. (Even if it was incredibly hard and went against her nature at times.)

This lasted until the end of a basic training session, when Shadow Weaver re-entered the scene.

* * *

The exercise simulation ended, and Catra turned to look at her team.

“Good job today guys, Lonnie, your aim was good. Rogelio, that hand to hand was something else, and Kyle…” Catra desperately tried to think about something positive to say. “…you didn’t die.”

The looks of self-congratulation were interrupted by the arrival of someone else.

“A mediocre effort at best. But I’m sure you all tried,” a hauntingly familiar voice called out.

“Shadow Weaver!” Catra said out of pure surprise as everyone else stood to attention, followed shortly by Catra himself as she regained her senses.

It had been a quite a while since they’d seen Shadow Weaver, and even longer since she’d spoken to them. Ever since Adora was exiled Shadow Weaver had been more and more distant and isolated from the rest of the Horde, so today’s in person visit was a surprise.

“At ease.” Weaver waved her hand. “I would like to speak with Catra.”

That was not a request.

“Of course ma’am.” Catra fought the urge to make a snarky comment _Adora_ wouldn’t be disrespectful so neither would she.

They walked all the way to Shadow Weaver’s office, silent except for the hum of Fright Zone machinery.

Once in the office, Catra waited for Weaver to speak, leaning her back against the wall.

“It’s been some time since we’ve last spoke to each other hasn’t it?” Shadow Weaver asked idly, looking at the Black Garnet as she did so.

“It has,” Catra replied.

“Now, please with no lies and in your honest opinion, why do you think that is?” Shadow Weaver asked, her eyes still not off the stone.

“Because of Adora,” Catra said, voice catching on the last word.

Shadow Weaver’s eyes left the Black Garnet for the first time and focused on Catra. “Precisely.”

Shadow Weaver walked around the room, obviously preparing to spout some pre-rehearsed speech.

“I know that Adora’s fate was your fault. It has always been obvious. You were ever the poisonous influence on her. It was your foolish idea to break into Lord Hordak’s sanctum, wasn’t it?” Shadow Weaver correctly guessed. “Then you let her take the fall. I had offered Adora the chance to trade places with you so that she might live while you were rightfully punished. But out of some misplaced loyalty she refused to give you up.”

Catra’s eyes widened. Shadow Weaver gave Adora an out? Adora refused to take it because it would have doomed Catra? But Shadow Weaver continued her speech.

“Then poor Adora was sent away, left to die on that accursed island. And without her, my interest in your group faded. But recently, I received some reports that _you_ in particular were doing extraordinarily well, that you’ve somehow managed to become less of a failure. I must admit, I’m intrigued by this and it is clear to me that you’ve managed to step up in Adora’s absence.”

Catra stopped leaning against the wall and stepped forward. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because, without Adora I’m giving you a chance, _just one_ to prove yourself to me,” Shadow Weaver claimed, stepping forward and putting something into Catra’s hand.

She opened it and Catra was surprised to see the badge of a force captain.

“Congratulations, _force captain_ Catra,” Shadow Weaver said with only a hint of sarcasm. “But remember, I can take this promotion away easily. You have only one chance. Do not waste it.”

Catra stood there for a few minutes in silence, shock at the turn of events. Is this… is this what Adora would have wanted?

“Thank you,” Catra replied. “What’s my first assignment?”

“Escorting a valuable person, me to be precise, through a dangerous location.”

“Where?” Catra asked.

Shadow Weaver chuckled. “The place you want go to most of course.”

Catra’s look remained confused, causing Shadow Weaver to elaborate.

“You’ve always wanted to see Beast Island after all,” Shadow Weaver said. “You do want to see what has become of Adora, don’t you?”

* * *

It was finally done. Adora’s technical knowhow combined with Micah’s magical ability had allowed them to turn the damaged skiff Adora had been using for a shelter, into a fairly operational boat in less than a day. Some part of her was slightly proud of that.

There had been some difficulty with the ‘ropes’ which had turned out to be thick metal wires which proved exceptionally hard to bend, but they’d do.

“I think that’s it,” Adora said, tone betraying the lack of confidence that she had in the ‘boat’s ability to float.

“Splendid!” Micah roared with approval, completely failing to read Adora’s tone of voice.

“Do you have all of your supplies?” Adora asked, her own remaining supplies in the ‘boat’ in a fairly safe area.

“Of course.” Micah gestured to the small bag he’d bought along. Her new friend looked thoughtful. “Do you think I should bring Glimmer something home? That’s the name of my daughter, do you think she’d like bugs?”

Adora thought about it for a minute. “How old is she?”

“My baby Glimmer?” He put his hand to his chin. “Well, I think I’ve been here for around… five years I think, she was eight when I last saw her. So I think she’s about… thirteen if I had to guess.”

“A teenager, huh?” Adora thought about it. “Well, I’m eighteen and when I was that age, I liked a bunch of stuff. But not bugs. Definitely not bugs.”

Micah looked disappointed. “Well, that’s all I have.”

Adora went over to her stuff and got out her spare flashlight. “Here, you can give her this. It’s a little old, but it still works and a flashlight can be pretty useful.”

“It’s perfect!” He took the flashlight out of her hand and looked ecstatic. “Thank you so much.”

Adora blushed at the praise. “Don’t worry about it. Now get into the boat; I’m going to do one last thing before we leave.”

Adora didn’t turn to look as Micah got into the boat. Instead she pulled out Catra’s old note from her pocket. It was really crumbled now, worn down by the thousands of times she read it.

“Sorry, Catra,” was all Adora said before taking off her red jacket and laying it gently in the sand. The jacket itself was torn and ripped to the point one of the sleeves was gone, and some of it was covered in old blood from various injuries, but that didn’t matter. Adora set the note inside the jacket, feeling something akin to regret and sadness.

Adora the took out a mostly drained pen she’d found and wrote on the back of the note a message to Catra just in case she did decide to come after all.

_I’m sorry Catra._

She’d have written more but the pen was incredibly empty. Nothing else really needed to be said, and truth be told Adora didn’t think that Catra would ever come to find it.

Catra had abandoned her. So much for friendship. If Catra really cared then she’d have been here a long time ago.

The business done, Adora got into the ship and kicked it off. To her surprise, it did indeed float.

Micah didn’t say a word as they cast off, looking instead toward Beast Island as they slowly moved away from it. Adora instead looked to the setting sun in the horizon.

And thankfully, the dreaded signal faded away until it was _finally_ gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of that chapter.  
> I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, particularly with Catra's section which was a blast to write start to finish.
> 
> I'd like to thank Yours Truly Jezebel for Beta-ing this chapter and helping with the prose and grammar.
> 
> And as always thank you all for reading, with extra thanks to those that comment/review, ya'll are awesome.
> 
> The next chapter will be out the same time next week, but until then I'll catch ya'll on the flip flop.


	3. The Ballad Of Sea Hawk And Two Crazies

It had been two full days since they’d left the island and Adora’s head felt clearer than it had in quite a while.

Presumably Micah’s head was as well, but they hadn’t really talked too much after leaving the island.

But the company of another living being was a great comfort to Adora; she wasn’t sure exactly how long she’d been on Beast Island for. Six months is when she stopped counting. To see another person after so long…

“Hey.”

Adora jumped slightly at Micah’s sudden attempt at conversation. “Hey.”

“I wanted to ask you what exactly you are going to do next,” Micah said.

Adora thought about it. “I have absolutely no idea,” she admitted. “I grew up in the Horde, but something tells me that exile is really not a good thing.”

“You could join the rebellion,” he offered. “From what you’ve said it’s still around and we could always use skilled fighters.”

Adora chuckled. “A tempting offer. But I don’t think I’ll take it.”

“Why not?”

“Well… I don’t really hate the Horde. Hordak? Sure, but the Horde itself is still something I respect,” Adora explained. “I’ve heard a lot of stories about rebellion cruelty and Horde heroism when I was growing up and haven’t seen anything that’s proved the opposite.”

“I doubt many of them are true; in my day I often found the inverse was correct,” Micah said, not really sounding upset.

“Maybe in your day,” Adora conceded. “And who knows, maybe what you’re saying is true. I just don’t think I’m ready to fight against the Horde, not yet.”

Micah’s tone was again gentle. “That’s alright; at Brightmoon those that want to remain neutral are welcomed all the same.”

“Brightmoon?” Adora repeated.

“It’s a city in-”

“I know what Brightmoon is,” Adora cut him off. “It’s just that… I’ve heard stories about it. How it’s a nigh impenetrable fortress, the centre of the whole rebellion. Why would I go there?”

“It was my home,” Micah said wistfully, a nostalgic air around him. “My family is there, they probably think I’m dead. And the city itself is beautiful; at night it just seems to _glow._ It’s one of the most beautiful sights in all of Etheria.” He turned to face Adora. “I’d like to offer you the chance to come with me, to see the sights and maybe find yourself a purpose.”

They went into a contemplative silence.

Adora considered the offer; it sounded nice. Seeing the city, travelling for a bit. And it wasn’t like she had many other options, re-joining the Horde was out of the question due to being exiled. That being said, she had no intentions of joining the rebellion for the moment. While she hated Hordak and was mixed on Catra, her opinion on the Horde as a whole remained largely unchanged.

Maybe it would change in the future, but for now Adora was happy enough to remain neutral.

“Alright. I’ll go with you,” Adora decided. “If only because I have nowhere else to go. And who knows, I might get a better handle on where to stand on the Horde vs rebellion issue.”

“That’s the spirit!” Micah patted her on the back. “We set sail to Brightmoon.”

“Great,” Adora said awkwardly. “So which way is the way to Brightmoon?”

Micah frowned. “That’s a good question.”

* * *

It was a fine day for sailing: clear blue skies, warm southern winds and a tune in his head.

Sea Hawk whistled a shanty as he steered the Dragon’s Daughter III.

It was a fine day for some adventure!

But unfortunately, adventure seemed to be in rather short supply today.

So he was relegated to just a nice relaxing cruise, maybe he could-

Sea Hawk then spotted something in the distance. He took out his telescope and looked at the object only to see that it was another ship.

But it didn’t look like it was big enough for the open seas, or even designed to be a proper ship.

Sea Hawk spun the wheel around, changing his course to an intercept trajectory.

There could be some poor souls there that need to be rescued. Poor souls that he could regale with tales of his heroic exploits. It would only be right for a very cool hero like himself to rescue them after all.

A few moments later and he’d pulled his ship right up next to their boat.

Sea Hawk went to the side of his ship, (which was at least twice as big as theirs) and looked down at the poor souls.

They looked positively filthy, like they hadn’t bathed in months. Their clothes were ragged and hair covered in dirt. It was one man that looked elderly and a woman that looked younger, most likely grandfather and granddaughter.

“Greetings friends, need a hand?” he called down.

The pair of them whispered to each other, having a quick discussion that apparently ended in mutual agreement.

“That would be great, thanks!” the girl called up.

“There is one problem; you’d have to abandon that boat of yours. It’s not small enough to fit on my ship.” Sea hawk called down.

“That’s fine; we don’t have much stuff!” the man yelled up.

“I’ll send down the rope!” Sea Hawk got said rope and tossed it down to them. “I’m Sea Hawk, by the way!”

“Adora!” the woman called up.

“Micah!” The man yelled up a moment later.

Those were some good names. Although ‘Micah’ actually sounded vaguely familiar, like he’d heard it before. Maybe Mermista had mentioned it at some point?

Regardless, Sea Hawk waited patiently for the pair of them to climb up and helped them up where necessary.

“Is this everything?” Sea Hawk asked once they were all aboard.

“Let’s see: one flashlight, two ration bars and a rusty knife all wrapped up in my lucky blanket,” Adora counted off with her fingers. “Yep that’s everything.”

“All my worldly possessions exist in this bag,” Micah informed him, holding up said bag as he did so.

Sea Hawk blinked. “Right, well if I may be so bold, might I ask why you…”

“Both look like we haven’t taken a shower in weeks?” Adora finished for him. “It’s because we haven’t.”

“I see. Am I right in assuming that you’re refugees because of the war?” Sea Hawk guessed, confident in his assumptions.

They looked at each other for a small while. Then Adora answered. “Something like that.”

“Well what was your destination then? Perhaps I can take you there,” Sea Hawk offered.

It was Micah that spoke up. “Brightmoon. We need to get there as soon as we can.”

Sea Hawk shook his head as he considered he geography of the situation. “I’m afraid that your destination would be very hard to reach by boat from here without passing through the Sea Gate in Salineas and they aren’t letting anyone in these days.”

They both looked slightly crestfallen at that, but fortunately Sea Hawk was at the rescue.

“But do not despair, for the kingdom of Salineas is just a day’s journey away and I am a personal friend of the princess. I can get you both in with no problem,” Sea Hawk explained.

“Great, we’ll do that then,” Adora nodded.

“Excellent! Let’s go on to adventure!” Sea Hawk exclaimed to the approval of Micah and chagrin of Adora.

* * *

To say that the journey to Beast Island was awkward would be an understatement.

Shadow Weaver had requisitioned them a very fast skiff, one specially modified for treading water, but it was still a two-hour journey to the island.

Catra spent two hours of awkward silence with Shadow Weaver. Well, Catra thought it was an awkward silence. She had no idea what Shadow Weaver thought.

Still, Catra had a lot to consider in this down time. Stuff like her promotion to force captain. She and Adora always talked about what would happen if one of them ever achieved that rank, but of course all of those plans assumed that they’d be together for it.

And now they were on their way to the island that Adora had been on for the past year, going to confirm if she had managed to survive against the odds, or if she’d died like Catra feared she had. Still, there was something she needed to know. Something only Shadow Weaver could tell her…

“Shadow Weaver? I have a question.” Catra broke the ice.

“Speak then.”

“All those stories about Beast Island… Are they true?” Catra asked hesitantly.

Shadow Weaver shook her head. “We told you those children’s stories so that you wouldn’t be afraid.”

Alright, Catra now felt at least five, no _six,_ times worse about everything at the moment.

“Do you think that Adora could have survived it?” Catra asked.

“If anyone was going to, it would be her.” Shadow Weaver’s tone left nothing for discussion.

The island came into view, looking more terrible than Catra had ever imagined it. It was nothing short of unnerving jagged metal pointing up into the sky in terrible fashion.

Shadow Weaver spoke again. “Before we enter the threshold of the island, you should know that it attacks the minds of its inhabitants. If she still lives, then Adora may be different from the one you remember.”

“Will the island affect us?”

“Only someone with a weaker mind would succumb immediately,” Shadow Weaver explained. “So please be sure to watch yourself.”

Catra rolled her eyes at the insult before asking one last question. “Why now?”

“Excuse me?”

“Why are we going to get Adora now? Why not earlier?” Catra asked, although it sounded like she was demanding answers more than anything.

Shadow Weaver didn’t answer immediately, but to Catra’s surprise Shadow Weaver did in fact answer sincerely.

“Because Hordak has finally forgotten her,” she said shortly. “He is a busy person and can’t afford to remember every soldier under his command. But before I could rescue her and provide her with a new identity, I needed to be sure that he could no longer remember her face. Then with a new identity she’d be assigned to her old squad under your leadership.” Shadow Weaver sounded slightly sour when she mentioned Catra being a leader.

Catra wondered if Shadow Weaver would go to all that same trouble for her if she was the one that had been sent to Beast Island. She then had to supress laughter at such a ridiculous thought.

If Catra had been the one sent to Beast Island then Shadow Weaver would probably blow up the island just to make sure that Catra was gone.

Still, the island was looming ever closer and Catra could barely believe it.

She was about to rescue Adora and things would return to the way they were. She’d be able to keep that promise she made a year ago.

Catra would rescue Adora from Beast Island.

They finally pulled up and disembarked from the skiff, taking in the sights of the infamous Beast Island.

“Search the beach for any traces of Adora’s presence. If we can’t find any then we may need to proceed further into the island,” Shadow Weaver commanded, although Catra was surprised to note she used ‘we’ instead of ‘you’ which was a nice change of pace.

The searching of the beach didn’t take long, and Catra soon found signs of an old camp site near the entrance to the inner parts of the island.

“Over here!” Catra called over to Shadow Weaver as she inspected the old camp site.

It looked lived in. Lots of the sand had been worn down like someone had been walking over it. There was also the remnants of a campfire that if she had to guess was about a three days to a week old. There were some old wrappers from ration bars scattered around and a small pole that smelt like fish. And tucked away in the corner was…

Adora’s old red jacket.

It looked ragged and torn to hell, like Adora had gotten into a fight with a princess and lost. Catra lifted it up, trying to get a better look when a familiar note fell out.

It was wrinkly as an old lady, showing that Adora had read it many times. But when Catra flipped it over, she read words that made her heart sink.

_I’m sorry Catra_

That was it, that was all that was written on the back of the note.

Her mind added one plus one together and came up with two.

A torn and worn jacket with old blood, a written apology, an abandoned campsite. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened.

Adora was dead. It had most likely happened not too long ago. Presumably she’d been injured by some monster and had returned to the camp. But whatever injuries she had were too severe for treatment so she wrote the note and hid it in her jacket before she went off to die somewhere.

Shadow Weaver had finally come by to see the camp for herself, but Catra could care less.

She had _failed_. Catra had been too late. Adora was gone forever.

How would Adora have felt? Afraid? Angry? Accepting?

But try as she might, Catra just couldn’t visualise it. Not Adora, not her face and eyes with the light gone out of them.

At this point Catra was vaguely aware that she was crying, but couldn’t really bring herself to care.

A hand was then on Catra’s shoulder. Shadow Weaver’s hand in fact.

“Come on child. We’ve found what we’ve came here to see.” Shadow Weaver’s voice was softer than Catra had ever heard it. She could even detect a hint of sadness in her voice, presumably at discovering that Adora was gone.

Slowly, Catra nodded and picked up the jacket. She’d take it home to the Fright Zone as a token of remembrance. She’d repair it, stich it back up and wear it.

In utter silence Catra and Shadow Weaver returned to the skiff and left Beast Island.

* * *

Glimmer stood anxiously as she waited for mom’s verdict. She wasn’t the only one of course. Bow was also there, looking nervous alongside her.

They’d finally returned an hour ago only to find that their absence had _not_ been unnoticed.

But rather than argue, or tell Glimmer that she’d been grounded, Mom had just taken them to the war room and requested to see the sword.

And that’s what they were doing now, only her, Bow, Mom and a lone guard.

Mom inspected the sword for the umpteenth time, looking at it from multiple angles before finally handing it back to Glimmer who anxiously awaited her judgement.

“I’m not sure how exactly you found it,” Mom began. “But in the right hands that sword can be a very powerful weapon.”

“Does that mean we can use it?” Glimmer asked.

“I said in the right hands. But that line went extinct centuries ago.” Mom shook her head. “Right now it would only be useful as a regular sword.”

“Oh,” was all Glimmer said as she braced herself for the inevitable scolding.

But it never came instead Mom, queen Angella, simply put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re growing up Glimmer. Growing up into the same type of person your father was.”

Glimmer had to smile at that.

“I’m going to give you a chance, just one. To prove that you’re ready to fight the Horde.”

Glimmer teleported to her mom for a quick hug which was returned. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

They pulled out of the hug and Mom gave the type of smile that suggested a catch. “But before that can happen, you need to prove that you can solve problems _without_ the use of violence.”

Bow looked hopeful while Glimmer looked aghast at the suggestion.

Mom put up a hand to signal quiet before Glimmer could even begin to protest. “And to ensure that you follow this rule, and to protect you and Bow if things go wrong, I have acquired… _hired help_.”

Mom looked much like she had bit into a lemon when ‘hired help’ was bought up, but nonetheless clapped her hands together. “You may show yourself now.”

“I can?” The lone guard that was in the room asked rhetorically. “Wonderful, darling.”

Then in front of Glimmer’s eyes, the guard shifted into a reptilian being with elf-like ears, light green skin, and a slender build. They had long blondish hair and sported a short-sleeved, green and black leotard with pointed shoulders and a high collar.

“Bow, Glimmer. Allow me to introduce-”

They cut off the queen. “No, allow me. My name is Double Trouble.” They gave her a shark-like grin. “I like acting, money, applause, and imagining children falling.”

“You’re a shapeshifter.” Bow said.

Double Trouble grinned and shifted into Bow, making Glimmer see double.

“Correct, darling,” they purred in Bow’s voice.

Bow shifted uncomfortably. “Please don’t do that.”

Double Trouble continued to grin but did shift back into their regular(?) form.

“Double Trouble has been hired to keep you both safe and to keep you out of trouble,” Mom explained before turning to Double Trouble themselves. “And remember, I’m paying you extra to _avoid_ chaos.”

“Of course.” Double Trouble’s smirk reassured nobody.

Bow cleared his throat awkwardly. “Well, what exactly is the mission?”

“A diplomatic mission to aid the kingdom of Plumeria,” Mom informed them. “They have been having trouble with the Horde and have called for humanitarian aid. If their kingdom fell…”

“Brightmoon would be open to invasion,” Glimmer realised.

“Exactly.” Mom nodded. “Your job will be to investigate the problem and offer aid where necessary. But violence and your direct intervention are strictly forbidden.”

Glimmer nodded. “We won’t let you down mom.”

“Then go pack, it’s a long journey to Plumeria.” Mom smiled.

“You won’t regret this your majesty.” Bow saluted.

“Of course she won’t,” Double Trouble purred, putting an arm each of their around Bow and Glimmer’s shoulders. “I have a feeling that we’re going to be _best friends_.”

* * *

The skiff continued its course along the route back to the Fright Zone.

There was a more sombre, regretful atmosphere on the ride back.

Catra could only reflect on her failure. Adora had survived almost a year. But less than a week before Catra had finally managed to get to the island, Adora had perished to some monster.

It made her feel like shit. Like the worst damn person in the world. But she did decide to double down on her second promise.

She would be the best damn person she could be in honor of her fallen friend.

Although Catra also wondered what Shadow Weaver thought about the whole affair.

Shadow Weaver had always favoured Adora despite the latter’s wishes. It created a lot of resentment that Catra always tried to keep locked away deep down, but Adora’s sacrifice had long evaporated those feelings and her passing made Catra feel like shit for even having them.

But still, Adora was gone now. It had been confirmed.

“What’s next?” Catra muttered to herself as she thought about it.

She was a force captain now, expected to lead the Horde to victory over the rebellion. It’s what Adora would have wanted: the rebellion crushed and the Horde making all of Etheria a safer place for the civilians.

“Shadow Weaver?”

“Yes child?” Shadow Weaver sounded slightly different than usual, more distant, like she wasn’t really there.

“After this… What’s my next assignment going to be?” Catra asked curiously.

“Apon arriving in the Fright Zone you will be assigned a squadron to attack the rebel fortress of Thaymor,” Shadow Weaver said, tone making it clear that it was all the information Catra was getting.

Catra just sighed.

Attacking a rebel fortress. She could do that.

* * *

A neat side effect of being away from Beast Island was that Micah’s head felt clearer than it did in _years_.

It meant that he could cast magic with much more ease than usual.

Blue lights danced around his fingers as he leaned on a railing overlooking the sea at sunset, a trick that he’d often pull for Glimmer when she was little.

_Glimmer…_

It had been five years since he’d seen her. She’d be thirteen about now. Time was a little funny around Beast Island; perspectives could distort and change around it. But he was (reasonably) confident that only five or so years had passed.

He’d have to make up for years of absent fathering. But still, at least he hadn’t missed the teenage years. There was time to embarrass Glimmer in front of any of her potential boyfriends (or girlfriends, he’d never judge).

Then there was Angella, dear Angella.

It would take a lot more to make up with her.

Still, the flashlight was a start. One he’d have to thank Adora for.

He had a lot to thank her for. Namely helping him escape that damned island in the first place.

Speak of the devil. Adora walked over and stood next to Micah, overlooking the wide sea.

“A nice sight isn’t it?” he said politely.

“Yeah, reminds me of the nicer days at the beach where I’d just watch the sun set behind the waves,” Adora reminisced.

“You didn’t see the sun in the inner parts of the island. This is the first time I’ve seen the sun in _years_ ,” Micah said quietly, taking in a very beautiful sight.

“Well, enjoy this then.” Adora gestured around. “I can’t really anymore.”

Micah sighed. “Because of the island?”

Adora nodded. “Yeah, sunset was when the hallucinations were at their worst. Nothing really serious. Just them telling me that I’m useless and not worth rescuing, trying to make me give up.” Adora chuckled darkly. “You know, the usual.”

He did know. He’d had more than his fair share of hallucinations during his time on the Island. Several of Angella, Glimmer, the princesses and Light Spinner. Although they were more varied than Adora’s visions: some hopeful, some despairing.

Adora seemed to have hallucinations that were mostly darker but never _too_ dark. While his could be more hopeful but also far darker.

But on the bright side he hadn’t had any since he met Adora, presumably from meeting another actual human being.

“Are you okay, kid?” Micah asked.

“Well, I haven’t had any hallucinations since we met,” Adora said. “That’s good. But other than that, I have no idea what I’m going to do with my life. I spent the majority of it with the Horde before being exiled. And yet I don’t really hate the Horde for it, just Hordak.”

Micah patted Adora on the back encouragingly, but he didn’t say a word, letting her get it all out.

“And Catra, _fucking Catra_. I waited for her, for _months_ but she never came, left me to die.” Adora’s voice broke for a moment. “We were supposed to be friends you know? I took the fall for her, it’s the whole reason I was sent away to that hellhole.” Adora took a few breaths to calm herself down. “So to summarise, I have no idea what I’m going to do with the rest of my life after we get to Brightmoon. I have unresolved issues regarding the Horde and my former best friend.”

Micah remained silent for a few moments, letting Adora catch her breath and clear her vision.

“It might not be the same, but I know the feeling of not knowing what to do next,” Micah said softly. “In Mystacor, after my mentor… _left,_ I was lost. So I threw myself into the first cause that came my way.”

“The rebellion, fighting the Horde,” Adora guessed.

Micah chuckled. “Exactly. I joined up. Met my wife and helped form the princess alliance. It gave me a purpose, let me find out who I was.”

“So you’re saying I should join the rebellion? Is that it?” Adora asked, unable to keep the scorn out of her voice.

“Not at all.” Micah shook his head. “What I _am_ saying is that you just need to find yourself a purpose, something to give your life a direction. Be it rebellion fighter or maybe as an artist.”

Adora did have a chuckle at that. “Me? An artist? That’ll be the day. I could barely draw stick figures.”

“The point is that you will find a purpose. Everyone does sooner or later,” Micah said. “And hopefully the trip to Brightmoon will help you find it.”

“That does help, thanks,” Adora said, a small smile on her face.

They continued to watch the sunset, a soft breeze in the air.

“What do you think of princesses?” Adora asked, giving Micah pause.

“What about them?”

“Well, in the Horde we always heard that they were monsters, irresponsibly using their powers to terrorise the land with the rebellion.” Adora explained. “But now we’re on the way to see one, so I thought that it might be best to see what you know.”

Micah contemplated the question. “Well, in my day most of my best friends were princesses and they were the best people I’ve ever known.” He sighed as he remembered them. “I wonder what happened to her father if Mermista is in charge these days. Adorable little ragamuffin used to love the cookies I’d bring when I visited.”

“You make it sound like they’re good people,” Adora commented.

“They are,” Micah said firmly. “They were good people, no matter what the Horde may have told you.”

Adora hummed but said nothing else as they watched the sun finally set.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of that chapter.
> 
> I had fun with this chapter, particularly with Catra's section and the introduction of Double Trouble and Micah and Adora's interactions, and Sea Hawk.  
> So yeah basically the entire chapter was a blast to write and I'd like to thank Yours Truly Jezebel for Beta-ing it.
> 
> Thanks everyone for reading and extra thanks to those that comment/review, you're all awesome. 
> 
> Next time, Micah and Adora enter Salineas while Double Trouble, Glimmer and Bow try to help Perfuma. Till then, I'll catch ya'll on the flip flop.


	4. Double Trouble Creates Explosions.

The Dragon’s Daughter III pulled into the docks with little fanfare or reaction.

This was especially surprising considering that it was on fire.

“Again, I must say that I’m sorry. This usually doesn’t happen,” Sea Hawk apologised. “Well, it does happen often. But I’m not quite sure how it happened this time.”

Adora nodded absently, glad she’d managed to save her belongings before the blaze had erupted.

“I don’t get it,” Micah said disbelievingly. “Since when did _paint_ become flammable?”

“Buckets of paint weren’t flammable the last time I checked,” Adora agreed.

They stood there for a few more moments watching the blaze as it slowly turned the ship into ash. It was at this point that Adora did note the lack of reaction to a flaming ship docking. However this made sense as there was absolutely no one around.

“Where is everybody?” Adora asked as she frowned, looking around the kingdom suspiciously. “You’d think that a kingdom as big as this one would have more people in it.”

Micah also frowned at the lack of people present. “Yes, the last time I was here you could barely move without tripping over another person’s feet. Something is wrong here.”

“Hmm...very odd, indeed,” Sea Hawk agreed. “If I know the princess Mermista and I do, something's amiss.”

Their contemplations on the abandoned city were interrupted by the arrival of a lone guard that sounded very much out of breath.

“Halt! Halt! Halt, I say!” He ran towards them before stopping to catch his breath. “...What's your business in Salineas?”

“We’re headed to Brightmoon and were hoping that the princess would help us on our way,” Micah explained.

“Tell her Sea Hawk is with them, she'll be excited to see me.” Sea Hawk added boastfully.

“Alright, this way.” The guard gestured and they all followed him on the way to the palace.

Adora took the opportunity to consider what she knew about princess Mermista from the three sources of information she had.

The Horde had always portrayed princesses as dangerous monsters, killers with no regard for human life (or the lives of other species for that matter) . They’d vaporise you the second you looked away. They all had strange dark powers that perverted nature and were used to destroy whole battalions.

But on the voyage over, Adora asked Micah what he thought of princesses and he’d told a different story. He said that princesses where people like him or her. Sure they had powers, but in reality they were people with lives and family. In particular he’d called Mermista an ‘adorable ragamuffin that was the sweetest little thing’ last he’d seen her years ago.

Then there was Sea Hawk, who gushed about Mermista’s beauty and emphasised how close they were when she was mentioned. But of course, that was all Adora could gather as Sea Hawk had a tendency to embellish his stories to ridiculous proportions and sing spectacularly bad shanties. Although it was nice to arm wrestle Sea Hawk, she’d ended up winning 57 out of 58 matches they’d had (the last one was a ‘tie’ caused by a sudden rogue wave that prevented Adora’s victory).

All in all, Adora decided to reserve judgement until she met Mermista herself. Let the princesses’ words and actions decide if the Horde or Micah was right.

And that opportunity came now as they entered the sea palace, seeing a dark-skinned girl that was stocky, black-painted nails, brown eyes, and deep teal hair with a pattern that sort of resembled a wave. She sported a tracksuit with teal and turquoise scales and a gold collar with gold and turquoise pauldrons.

This must be the princess.

“Ew, who let him back in here?” Mermista demanded apon seeing Sea Hawk, but the man himself ran to Mermista's throne as the duo and the guard followed at a walking pace.

“Princess! Oh, it's been too long. I have dreamed of you night and day since we parted,” Sea Hawk waved his arms around dramatically.

“Uh-huh...” Mermista said clearly bored with the situation before she noticed Adora and Micah. “And who are you?”

“My name is Adora.”

“And mine is Micah.”

Mermista snapped her fingers. “Micah… Micah… where have I heard that name before?”

“I was a friend of your father’s,” Micah supplied. “When I visited I bought cookies.”

Mermista blinked a few times, but she did seem to remember. “Oh yeah, you were a part of the old princess alliance.” She frowned. “Aren’t you supposed to be dead or something?”

“Something like that. I was exiled to Beast Island and so was Adora here.” Micah gestured broadly.

Sea Hawk looked surprised. “I thought that Beast Island was just a story.”

“If only,” Adora said darkly.

“Why are you here then?” Mermista asked them, moving past the topic of exile.

“We seek aid to help us get to Brightmoon,” Micah said.

“Well, you could borrow one of our boats. It’s not like many people use them these days with the Sea Gate falling apart and stuff.” Mermista shrugged.

“The Sea Gate is failing?” Micah sounded concerned.

“Yeah, I know, right?” Mermista gestured with her staff and the water that was flowing over a nearby window magically receded, showing the gate itself. “It figures that I would inherit a kingdom that's crumbling, but it's totally fine – I'm ... handling it. It's just kind of inconvenient because the Horde won't stop attacking us ...”

Adora blinked at that. The Horde was attacking Salineas? When did that happen? Last she remembered there wasn’t even rumours of an attack on Salineas. Just how long had she been gone?

“Why is the gate falling apart?” Micah asked.

Mermista shrugged. “I mean, who knows, but it's getting weaker every day, and if the Horde tries to attack us again, we're pretty much dead.”

Adora had to frown at that but said nothing. Her relationship with the Horde was… _complicated_ at the moment and she wasn’t really looking to see them again anytime soon. More so, from the little she’d seen of the kingdom it didn’t really seem like a threat. Why would the Horde attack it?

“If I may, Your Majesty, I have an offer,” Micah announced. “I was a very powerful mage in my day and although I lack my staff and am out of practice, I can still do a fair bit of magic.”

“And?”

“And I propose that I’ll try and help repair the Sea Gate and make it stronger. In return you help us return to Brightmoon.”

Mermista considered the offer for a moment before nodding in acceptance. “Well, you can’t make it much worse.”

“That’s the spirit!” Sea Hawk exclaimed.

“But I’ll only accept the offer on one condition,” Mermista said. “You both need to take a shower and get some clean clothes.”

Now _that_ was something Adora could agree on.

* * *

After about five minutes of meeting them, Glimmer had decided she didn’t like Double Trouble.

Part of that was probably because of all the questions they asked: lots of probing ones about who she was as a person.

When Glimmer asked why they were asking all those questions, Double Trouble claimed they were just “trying to understand her character.” Whatever that meant.

Still, even the mercenaries’ presence couldn’t bring down Glimmer’s excitement at being given a proper mission.

All in all, they arrived in Plumeria in a fairly quick manner, ready to offer aid.

Still, Glimmer had to let out a low whistle upon seeing the landscape which was a lot more desolate than she’d been expecting. “Mom didn't say anything about all the plants dying.”

“I don’t think she knew,” Bow said before looking around. “Where’s Double Trouble?”

“Over here,” their slightly strained voice called out as they went into view, dragging the cart grumpily behind them. “I still don’t know why _I_ have to pull this along.”

“Because you’re hired help,” Glimmer explained dismissively.

Bow frowned and pointed out a massive stream of smoke coming from nearby. “Guys, what’s that?”

“Horde camp,” Double Trouble informed them. “Moved in recently judging by the amount of smoke.”

“You're here!” They all turned to see Perfuma with some of her people, looking hopefully at them.

Glimmer held a hand out to shake. “Princess Perfuma. I'm Commander Glimmer of-”

But Glimmer never got to finish as her hand was filled with a bouquet of flowers, Bow got a flower crown and Double trouble got a flower bracelet.

“Ooh, I get a hat,” Bow said.

“Lucky,” Double Trouble grumbled.

Glimmer just blinked and tried again. “Princess Perfuma. I'm Commander Glimmer of Brightmoon. We received your requests for aid and are ready to help.”

Perfuma smiled widely. “Come with me, I'll show you around. You're gonna love it!”

Well, looked like they were going to get the grand tour.

* * *

After several months without one, a warm shower proved to be the best feeling in the world.

All the dirt and grime went away, and her hair finally returned from practically brown to its proper blonde.

Once she’d left, she was greeted with the clothes she’d requested. An old, captured Horde uniform with the insignias taken off. She’d always loved the uniform and even her mixed feelings on the Horde wouldn’t stop her from wearing it.

Once she was fully dressed, Adora chose to make good on her word exploring the city.

It proved a neat experience, with the architecture being completely different from the Fright Zone, looking lots more like seashells than the rectangular buildings there.

But the lack of people really put a damper on the whole affair, giving the city a really isolated and abandoned feeling. Currently she was in what used to be a marketplace, but most of the stands looked cleaned out and were very dusty.

“Sup?”

Adora jumped slightly but turned to look at Mermista all the same.

“Hi, Your, uh… Majesty?” Adora said awkwardly, unsure what the protocol for greeting royalty was.

Mermista rolled her eyes. “Just call me Mermista.”

“Sure ah, sure thing,” Adora replied nervously. It was just her and a princess, alone in a (mostly) abandoned kingdom. Still, she had decided earlier to let the princesses’ actions and words speak for her, so Adora decided to make small talk.

“How have things been going?” Adora asked.

“Fine. Other than the Sea Gate and Sea Hawk I can’t really complain,” Mermista shrugged.

Adora nodded along as she struggled to think of something to say. Turns out a childhood of growing up in the Horde with only one really close friend and an extended time completely alone on Beast Island did nothing to improve one’s social skills. Go figure.

“The city looks nice.” Is what Adora settled on.

“I guess.” Mermista shrugged. “It’s alright. Better without all the people. Before the gate started failing you could barely move without bumping into someone.”

Adora tried and failed to visualise such an image. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many people in one place.”

“Funny that you mention that. From what I’ve gathered, you grew up in the Horde, right?” Mermista asked bluntly, no sugar-coating or build up to be found.

“Wha- what, uh? What gives you that idea?” Adora stammered out, causing Mermista to roll her eyes.

“Well the fact that you requested one of the uniforms without the symbols was a clue,” Mermista said dryly.

“Oh.” Adora’s face went red with embarrassment. “I guess that would be a big clue.”

Mermista chuckled. “It would. Are you still with the Horde?”

“No, I was exiled for doing something I don’t want to talk about,” Adora admitted.

“Cool,” Mermista said and Adora had to chuckle at that.

In her own head, Adora had described her time being interrogated and on Beast Island as many things. Brutal, painful, depressing. But cool? That was a new one.

“So, why are you here?” Adora asked. “Talking to me, I mean. Why are you talking with me?” Adora then winced at how rude it sounded.

But Mermista didn’t seem to care. “I needed something to do. Figured talking with you would be better than talking with Sea Hawk.”

“He could be pretty annoying,” Adora agreed, a smile appearing on her face as she leaned forward in a conspiratorial manner. “We arm wrestled on the way over and he lost every time. Kept claiming he was letting me win.”

Mermista chuckled at that. “Sounds like him. Hey, let me tell you about the time we went into the tunnel of love.”

Adora had no idea what that was, but it sounded pretty entertaining. “Please, go on.”

“Well, it was like six months ago when there was a lot more people. Sea Hawk was being real annoying…” Mermista told her story and Adora listened as it was told. True to form it was entertaining as Mermista recounted how Sea Hawk managed to set their boat on fire in said tunnel of love. This led Adora to recount how the Dragon Princess III caught on fire. Soon enough they were practically rolling on the floor with laughter.

They chatted for a long time after that and Adora decided that Mermista was a pretty cool person. Nothing like the stories the Horde told her. And it turns out complaining about Sea Hawk was a great way to get to know someone. Who knew?

And slowly, ever so slowly without her knowing, a warm feeling developed inside her.

It had been a while since she’d felt it, but Adora could recognise it all the same.

That warm feeling of happiness you only got when hanging out with a friend.

* * *

“So, what do we know?” Glimmer asked the group.

“All the plants are dying slowly; no cures have been found,” Bow said.

“There’s also a nearby Horde camp which I’m assuming isn’t just there for show,” Double Trouble contributed.

After Perfuma had led them around the kingdom and showed them around, they’d hung around for a few hours while they tried to think of a cure for the plague that was attacking the plants.

Or more accurately Glimmer and Bow participated in festivities while Double Trouble showed off their talents to the awe and wonder of the residents of Plumeria, making them look very pleased with themselves.

In her defence, Plumeria was a very festive and distracting place and Perfuma didn’t help with her constant enthusiasm.

But now they’d finally managed to get away from the party to an isolated area to plan properly.

“Well it’s pretty obvious that the Horde camp is responsible for the poisoning. If we stop them, then chances are Perfuma can help the woods,” Glimmer laid the facts out. “Any suggestions?”

“That depends,” Double Trouble said, a sly smile on their face.

“On what?” Bow asked.

“Well, how willing are you to bend one or two rules?” Double Trouble asked.

“The queen said strictly no violence or direct intervention,” Glimmer reminded them.

“Technically,” Double Trouble shifted to take the form of mom. “She said, ‘violence and your direct intervention are strictly forbidden.’ And as she was talking to you at the time, I’m exempt from that little technicality.”

Bow leaned forward. “But aren’t you also being paid to avoid chaos?”

Double Trouble reverted back to their usual form. “What the queen doesn’t know won’t hurt her. You agree, don’t you Glimmer?”

As a matter of fact, she did. There wasn’t any real way to solve the problem without intervening, and a little harmless bending of the rules never hurt anyone after all…

“What are you suggesting?” Glimmer asked, ignoring Bow’s low moan of despair.

“Well, if we can knock out two guards in the camp then put on the uniforms, then you two can cover an exit for me while I take… _more direct measures_.”

“Done,” Glimmer said immediately. “Let’s get moving.”

“We are not supposed to directly intervene or be violent,” Bow said despairingly. “This plan is literally the opposite of that.”

Double Trouble chuckled slyly. “That’s the beauty of it, I’ll be the one violently intervening while you two stand there looking pretty just in case something goes wrong.”

That sounded good to Glimmer and Bow looked like he reluctantly agreed. They got moving immediately, finding an isolated patrol and knocking them out, stealing the armour that was conveniently their sizes.

“The Horde moves in half hour shifts,” Double Trouble said to the pair of them as they shifted into the perfect likeness of a generic Horde soldier. “Just attach yourselves to a patrol and stay quiet. I’ll take care of the rest.”

The trio then entered the threshold of the camp where they were stopped by the man guarding the entrance.

“Halt!” He held up an armoured hand. “Your patrol was supposed to report in ten minutes ago. What happened?”

“Radio failure,” Double Trouble said, in a completely different voice than usual in a tone that played the part of bored soldier perfectly. “Gonna get it checked out next time we get back home.”

“Tell me about it. Third time this week the radio’s failed,” the guard complained. “Anything interesting happen?”

Double Trouble snorted. “I wish. Anything would be better taking _another_ pointless patrol.”

“You three go ahead, maybe you could catch some grub before your next patrol.” The guard waved them ahead and the trio entered the camp.

“Nice one,” Glimmer whispered to Double Trouble.

“All part of the job darling,” they whispered back. “Now make yourselves inconspicuous. This is my time to shine and where the _fun_ begins.”

* * *

It had been some time since Micah had attempted to do sorcery as complex as repairing the Sea Gate.

Of course, this was because he had lost his staff long ago and was exiled to Beast Island, not really a good place to be doing complex magic.

Regardless the problem was rather obvious: the connection between the runestone and the gate had been damaged somehow. And the best solution would be to reform that connection.

Let’s see … he knew one spell, but it would take quite a while to perform. No matter, he had plenty of time.

Humming a half-forgotten tune, he carefully drew the line of the spell from memory. An arduous task, and one mistake would mean he’d have to start over again.

“Hey dad,” Glimmer said as she walked into his vision, staying exactly in the corner of his eye.

“Hello sweetie,” Micah said absently, not taking his vision off the spell. “How’s your day been?”

Glimmer shrugged. “It was alright.”

“Alright is better than not alright,” Micah said cheerfully. “Have you made any friends yet?”

Glimmer’s face twisted, distorted itself in rage. “I suppose _you_ would need to ask that. You were never here for my childhood.”

Micah sighed. “I was busy unfortunately. Beast Island is very hard to escape from.”

“You left me!” The image of Glimmer exploded in rage, but Micah just focused on the spell. Did it curve right or left here?

“And I will make it up to you, in time,” Micah said. Yes, it was definitely a left.

But the spell dissipated. Looks like right was the way to go. Seeing nothing else for it, he started again.

“Sloppy work Micah. I expected better.” Light Spinner shook her head disapprovingly at him from the corner of Micah’s other eye.

“You’d know,” Micah replied lightly. “I seem to recall you messing up more than your fair amount of times on Mystacor.”

Light Spinner laughed at that, the same merry laugh he remembered so clearly from his youth. “Even a master is not immune to the mistakes of a beginner.”

“I remember,” Micah said, going slightly faster with the casting this time. Then he curved it right.

“But how accurate are those memories?” Light Spinner asked. “The island can twist and shape them; how can you be sure that what you know is correct?”

Alright, that was most of the spell done. He just needed to remember if it went up or down. “I have faith.”

He went down and the spell broke apart uselessly. It would seem that up was the correct path. He started it up again as the most haunting of visions came. Light Spinner and Glimmer faded away with the wind and _she_ took the place of Glimmer.

She never said anything. she never did until she went away, but he could see her out of the corner of his eye.

The final time performing the spell was successful. The Sea Gate made a noise that sounded positive and he saw that the gate was repairing itself. It would take a few hours, more likely days, before it would be fully repaired. He was no She-Ra after all, and that legendary hero had not been seen for centuries.

But with the spell successfully cast, Micah allowed himself to see her.

Queen Angella stood there, a loving smile on her face.

“I love you,” was all she, or at least this vision of her, said before she vanished as if being blown apart by a gentle breeze.

He didn’t bother to stop the tears flowing from his eyes. He’d always told Glimmer that there was no shame in crying when she was younger and he hadn’t proved himself a hypocrite yet.

He’d let the princess know that the Gate was healing in a minute. He just needed some time to himself for a moment.

* * *

In all honesty money was _not_ the only reason Double Trouble had taken this job.

They lived for the chaos that came with life. They lived for the admiration and respect that came with showing off for others.

And when Double Trouble found out that the queen of Brightmoon, leader of the rebellion wanted to hire them to protect the princess…

Well they’d dropped everything to take that job because of the sheer amount of _opportunities_ it would provide them with.

The _people_ they could meet and impersonate, the _drama_ they could watch as it unfolded before their eyes. Double Trouble knew that this job would not only pay well, but also prove highly entertaining while keeping them on their feet.

Still, that didn’t mean that all the roles they would be playing were going to be fun. In fact, playing a Horde grunt was often exceptionally drab, no matter how necessary.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” the poor soul that was guarding the entrance to the pump room said.

“Beats me. Was just given orders to bring this here.” Double Trouble shrugged nonchalantly, holding up the package they’d created for this occasion. “Probably something for the eggheads.”

“I know the feeling. Got the correct security codes?” The guard asked.

“Password 7-Charlie-twenty.” Double Trouble recited the password for this month. Thankfully their contacts in the Horde kept them updated.

“Go on ahead.” They were waved through. They entered the pump room and got to work opening the package to get to the explosives inside. They were custom from the Crimson Wastes, designed to be smaller for concealment but with a bigger kick to them.

They placed the explosives just wide enough apart so that the explosion would cause maximum possible damage, no point in doing things half way after all.

But as they placed the last one, They heard alarms go off and cries of “Intruders!” Followed by the sounds of running boots.

They had to sigh at that. All the effort to be stealthy and their accomplices managed to get caught after only five minutes. That had to be a record, getting caught so quickly.

Their work was never done, it seemed.

They left the building, the beginnings of a rudimentary plan forming in their mindscape.

But fortunately, such a plan wasn’t needed as they exited just in time to see the princess Perfuma attack the Horde with the aid of both Glimmer and Bow in what was a rather amusing one sided battle, with the _mighty_ Horde turning tail and running after only a few minutes.

They reverted back to their original form and walked over to their ‘friends’.

“Well done everyone.” Double Trouble clapped, causing Glimmer to scowl.

“You didn’t do anything!” the princess of Brightmoon shouted.

“Didn’t I?” Double Trouble activated the detonator and the poison pump exploded in spectacular fashion. Fortunately, they were outside the blast range and most of the explosion was just for show.

It looked _spectacular._

An assessment that was unfortunately only shared by themselves.

“That’s a bit excessive,” Bow said as he watched it.

“A bit?!” Glimmer yelled. “Mom’s going to kill us!”

“Well before that happens I’d like to thank you so much!” Perfuma said. “You inspired us to save ourselves. How can we ever repay you?”

“Join the Rebellion, and help me reform the Princess Alliance,” Glimmer capitalised on that offer with a quick mercenary edge that Double Trouble admired.

“Um, are you sure? Didn't that go horribly the first time?” Perfuma asked nervously.

“It went horribly for our parents. But we have a chance to do it right. We're clearly stronger together. Think what all the Princesses united could do.” Glimmer said.

“Would I get to hit more people with flowers?” Perfuma asked, letting Double Trouble understand her just a little better.

“Absolutely.”

“You have a deal.” Perfuma turned to face her people. “Hey, everyone! Look at us. We're mighty rebels now.”

Cheers abounded and Double Trouble grinned.

Mission accomplished.

* * *

Back in the Fright Zone, Catra’s first move had been to go to her bunk and store Adora’s old red jacket there.

The second move had been to catch up with her friends.

“I can’t believe you’re force captain!” Kyle enthused. The squad itself had swarmed her moments after she’d safely stored the jacket.

“Thanks Kyle,” Catra said dryly. “Good to see that you had faith that I could make it.”

“Well, I mean - I can believe it obviously, I uh always believed-”

Catra cut him off with a laugh. “Just teasing you, Kyle.”

The rest of the squad had a laugh at that before they all expressed their own thoughts.

Even Lonnie looked approving. “I wouldn’t have thought it a year ago, but you’ve really gotten yourself together.” Lonnie smiled warmly. “If one of us was going to be made Force Captain, I’m glad it’s you.”

Yep, Catra had gotten her act together alright. All it had cost her was her best friend…

But fortunately, Rogelio distracted her from continuing that train of thought with a lengthy monologue in whatever language he spoke.

“He says he’s glad you’re as Force Captain as well.” Kyle translated for Catra’s sake. She’d been the only person in the squad that remained unable to understand Rogelio, even after all of Adora’s attempts to help her do so.

And of course, Adora definitely was gone now…

Catra quickly banished the thoughts from her brain and instead smiled. “I’ve already got my sec- _first_ assignment.”

Shadow Weaver had made it clear that their little trip to Beast Island was strictly off the books. As far as everyone else knew they were away for ‘ _Force Captain training.’_

“Where to?” Lonnie asked, not noticing the slip up.

“I’m leading the attack on Thaymor. Going to be leaving in a few hours,” Catra told them.

“The rebel fortress? Sounds like that could be dangerous.” Kyle gulped nervously, causing Rogelio to put a comforting arm around him.

Catra rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, I’m more than capable of whacking a few rebel heads together.”

Catra then decided to change the subject. “Anyway, I still have a few hours to kill. Let’s all go and get something to eat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of that chapter.
> 
> This is a little bit of a deviation from my usual schedule. Usually I try to stick to Sundays for posting, but I may or may not be busy on that particular day this week, so I thought that it's better for the chapter to go out early rather than be late.
> 
> But rest assured, if it turns out that I'm not particularly busy this Sunday then ya'll can expect another chapter then as well.
> 
> As always I'd like to thank my magnificent beta Yours Truly Jezebel for fixing up this chapter. And I'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to read it.
> 
> Next time, the road to Brightmoon isn't smooth as Adora and Micah crash into Dryl, meanwhile Mermista shows up at the princess alliance a week later with some interesting news...
> 
> But until then, I'll catch ya'll on the flip flop.


	5. In The Shadows Of Dryl

Adora looked skeptically at the transport in front of them.

While she was probably not up to date on the latest in military transport, the captured model in front of her was out of date by at least thirty, no _fifty_ years.

In fact, Adora was fairly certain she’d read about this model of airship in history classes. The rolling thunder model was infamous for being highly unreliable in a fight or even flying for longer than half an hour. It was a big bulky flying machine, looking more like a big rectangle than anything else, easily captured by the rebellion and horribly fuel inefficient.

Of course _Micah_ seemed unaware of the models reputation.

“Thanks again for the transport.” He told Mermista with a wide smile.

“Whatever, it’s no problem.” Mermista shrugged. “Now do you need anything else before you go?”

Micah shook his head. “Nothing except for you to think about my offer.”

Once he found out the first Princess alliance was basically over, Micah’s first move had been to ask Mermista to re-join the alliance to which she said she’d “Think about it.”

“Still thinking.” Mermista said before turning to face Adora. “What about you ‘Dora?”

“The food was more than enough.” Adora said with a smile. She’d been treated to her first taste of real food just last night, it had been _divine_. And Mermista had tons of the stuff, changes of clothes and more in packed bags prepped by Sea Hawk and the Princess herself.

“Cool.” Mermista said as the bordered the transport. “And Adora, if you’re ever in Salineas feel free to find me and we can like hang out or whatever.”

“I’d like that.” Adora smiled. “See you later.”

The transport doors closed and Adora put herself in the piloting seat. Of course she wasn’t exactly an expert pilot, or even trained in anything above the bare necessities, but it couldn’t be _too_ hard. Right?

* * *

It was indeed too hard.

The controls were archaic and half of them didn’t work, this unfortunately included the brakes. As a result, they only managed to get about half way to Brightmoon before it went to shit.

“We’re losing altitude!” Adora yelled.

“That’s good?” Micah asked uncertainly.

“That’s bad!” Adora shouted as the ship began shaking apart, it’s ancient frame being unable to handle even reasonable speeds. “We’re going to crash!”

Micah got to work on a spell, creating it quickly causing a protective orb to form around them. “Brace yourself!”

Adora did as instructed and moments later the ship crashed into a mountainside, far off the course they were previously on. Micah’s protective shield protected them from most of the damage, but most of the ship fell apart on impact. It’s metal littering the mountainside but thankfully without an explosion, the fuel was far too old for that.

And once the excitement of the crash was over, Micah and Adora picked themselves up to examine the environment.

“Where are we?” Adora asked aloud.

“Just outside the Whispering Woods, near the kingdom of Dryl if I’m not mistaken.” Micah said like it wasn’t a cause for alarm.

“Let me guess, another Princess lives there?” Adora asked, half rhetorically, half genuinely.

Micah nodded. “As far as I remember, although I never really went here before and the Princesses name has long left my memory.”

Alright, now that was not what Adora wanted to hear.

“Is it safe?” Adora asked.

“Perfectly. Even if the alliance isn’t really around anymore, I’m confident that they’ll still give us aid.” Micah assured her. “Now, Dryl should be that way.”

They began walking in the direction indicated.

Fortunately it wasn’t a long walk and within a few minutes they were outside the front of the castle and something was _off_ about the whole thing.

Micah stopped to look at the castle and frowned. “The castle's distress beacon is lit. It might be under attack.”

“Do you think it could be the Horde?” Adora asked.

“Maybe.” Micah stretched out all his bones. “We need to check it out.”

Adora agreed with the sentiment, but decided to make her thoughts feel known. “This place, I can’t explain it but it just feels _wrong._ ”

Micah hummed neutrally. “Then let’s find out why.”

And so they entered the threshold of the kingdom, an innate feeling of doom present in Adora that reminded her uncomfortably of Beast Island.

* * *

It was in high spirits that Glimmer entered the war room today, it had been a week since the mission to Plumeria.

The mission was a complete success. Perfuma’s kingdom had been saved and the Princess herself had agreed to join the rebellion. Glimmer could hardly have imagined a better outcome.

“Good morning everyone!” Glimmer greeted them all as she teleported in directly to her seat.

And by everyone, she meant Mom, Bow, Double Trouble, Perfuma, Spinnerella and Netossa.

“Good morning Glimmer.” Mom greeted as Glimmer took a seat. “You seem awfully cheerful this morning.”

Glimmer grinned. “Why wouldn’t I be cheerful? The mission was a success, Perfuma’s joined the alliance and it’s a _lovely_ day outside. What could possibly ruin the day?”

The very second Glimmer finished speaking a lone guard burst through the double doors and stood to attention.

“Ma’am!” He saluted.

“Report.” Mom ordered.

“We have a guest, Princess Mermista of Salineas has requested an audience.” The guard reported.

“And me, Sea Hawk! Don’t forget me!” A voice echoed from down the hall.

Mom blinked before responding. “Show them in.”

Moments later Glimmer was greeted by the sight of someone who could only be the Princess and some kind of pirate entering the war room.

“Greetings Princess Mermista.” Mom greeted them formally. “How may we assist you?”

Mermista looked skeptically around the room while the Sea Hawk fellow stood behind her awkwardly.

“So this is the rebellion?” Mermista finally asked.

“That’s right darling.” Double Trouble said lazily from their seat. “Are here to join?”

“Actually, yes.”

Glimmer couldn’t contain her excitement, another Princess wanted to join the alliance already? They didn’t even have to do anything this time. In response she teleported and hugged Mermista. “Welcome!”

“Please get off me.” Mermista said uncomfortably and Glimmer complied.

“Sorry, just got a little exited.” She apologised before returning to her seat.

Mom nodded in her seat. “Please, take a seat we were just about to start the meeting.” Mermista and Sea Hawk took a pair of free seats around the table and mom asked an important question. “The last time we asked, you were quite adamant that you wouldn’t be joining us any time soon. What changed?”

“Well, I’m sure you know that the Sea Gate was in trouble not too long ago.” Mermista said, causing nods of agreement from around the room. “Well after some of your guys fixed it I decided that it’s probably best to join up and keep the Horde off my back.”

Glimmer’s joy at another Princess in the alliance turned swiftly to confusion. “Our guys fixed it?”

“I must agree with my daughter. We haven’t sent _anyone_ to Salineas.” Mom was also confused.

“Well, a week ago two people turned up to my castle.” Mermista said matter-of-factly. “There was a girl called Adora and the guy called himself Micah, he fixed the gate with magic.”

Glimmer must have misheard. Did Mermista just say _“Micah?”_ As in the same name as her father Micah? A Micah that used sorcery to fix the gate?

There was a definite and almost audible change in the atmosphere of the room at Mermista’s proclamation with everyone now paying close attention to the conversation at hand.

“I’m sorry, did you just say _Micah_?” Glimmer asked, taking care to keep her tone neutral, but not really succeeding.

“Oh, this is going to be good.” Double Trouble stage whispered to Netossa _just_ loud enough for everyone to hear them.

But Mermista ignored the mercenary and nodded. “Yeah, he was an old guy with this big beard. I remembered him from when I was a kid, think he was part of the old Princess alliance.”

Glimmer’s heart felt like it was pounding in her chest. Could it really be him? After all this time?

Wordlessly, Glimmer teleported out of the war room, into her own room and tore it apart looking for it. A moment later and it was found, an old family photo. Glimmer then teleported back to the war room and shoved the photo directly into Mermista’s face. “Is this him?”

“What-”

“Is this him?!” Glimmer demanded.

Mermista looked at the photo for several heart pounding minutes before nodding in confirmation. “Yeah, he’s a little older now, but that’s him.”

Glimmer staggered a bit, letting out a breath she didn’t know that she’d been holding. “Dad’s alive.”

After all this time…

Dad. Was. Alive.

Mom looked similarly thunderstruck at this revelation, seeing this Mermista decided to elaborate.

“He’s your dad? Well he mentioned you once or twice. I thought that he was supposed to be dead too when I met him.” Mermista said. “He said he’d been on Beast Island for the last few years.”

Double Trouble let out a low whistle at that. “Beast Island? He escaped from _Beast Island_? Colour me impressed.”

“What exactly is Beast Island?” Bow asked.

“A legend.” Double Trouble said dramatically. “Lots of my contacts in the Horde fear it, most in the Crimson Waste think it’s a myth. In short Beast Island is the ultimate punishment, the Horde sends people there to _die._ No one escapes it, no one knows what actually happens there.” Double Trouble paused for dramatic effect. “It’s usually reserved to punish the most horrible crimes in the Horde’s eyes, for example the according to my contacts, the last person sent there infiltrated Hordak’s personal sanctum, got caught and was sent off a year ago.”

“No one knows what happens there?” Perfuma asked from her seat.

“Perhaps the higher ups.” Double Trouble admitted. “But all we have are rumours. _No one_ escapes Beast Island.”

“Except my dad apparently.” Glimmer said. “Mermista, when did you last see him?”

“A week ago, I gave him and Adora an airship so that they could get here fast.” Mermista reported. “But based on your guys reactions, I’m guessing that they haven’t arrived yet.”

Glimmer shook her head a negative, but Spinnerella did ask a question. “Who is Adora anyway?”

“She was exiled from the Horde to Beast Island and helped Micah escape. She’s pretty alright.” Mermista explained.

“An airship? What model was it?” Bow asked, picking up on what Mermista had said earlier.

“Rolling Thunder.”

Double Trouble let out another low whistle. “Those still exist? I’m surprised it would have been able to fly at all.”

Glimmer had a sinking feeling in her chest. “Meaning?”

“Odds are it crashed.”

“We need to find them.” Glimmer said immediately.

“Agreed.” Mom said, looking at dad’s empty chair as she did so. “Glimmer, you will be leading the search effort. Now where is a likely point for the airship to crash?”

Well, seems that dad being alive was enough to kick Mom into high gear, not doing any of the usual discussion that went along with these kinds of missions.

“If I remember correctly, Dryl is on the way from Salineas.” Bow put forward. “If they crashed nearby, then perhaps the king would seek help there.”

Mom nodded. “That makes sense, Glimmer you are to take Bow and Double Trouble to investigate this immediately.”

Glimmer nodded seriously, this could be the most important mission of her life.

* * *

_-At which point any remaining rebel forces retreated. A small force was left behind to guard against any rebel counter attacks while I lead the majority of our forces back into the Fright Zone for reassignment._

Catra gave a sigh of relief as she finished typing in the report, the attack on Thaymor had went as smoothly as it could have. With minimal resistance from the rebels they’d taken the ‘fortress’ without a proper fight.

If she was honest with herself, (and Catra was about fifty/fifty with that), then she thought that the attack on Thaymor was a waste. It was just a village of civilians, no real tactical advantages came from conquering it. It was a waste of resources.

…And Catra felt just a little bit guilty for destroying the village houses with her tank. Even if the explosions were pretty cool. And it was only a little guilt, nothing that would chew her up inside.

With the report done, Catra audibly groaned as she’d have to run it by Shadow Weaver, something neither of them particularly liked.

Still, it was her job. So she’d suck it up and get it over and done with. After that hopefully Carta would get a better assignment, one that was actually important.

So Catra walked to and entered Shadow Weaver’s sanctum, datapad in hand. “Hey Shadow Weaver, I’ve got the report for the assault on Thaymor.”

Shadow Weaver said nothing, looking directly into the Black Garnet instead, but she did hold out a hand onto which Catra deposited the report.

Catra stood there, waiting for a reaction. But Shadow Weaver was reading at an excruciatingly slow pace. And yeah, there wasn’t much to look at while she did so. At least the Black Garnet was sort of pretty.

She wondered if Adora would have done well in assaulting Thaymor. Would she have attacked as viciously as Catra had? Would the battle have been over quicker or would it have been longer?

The report would have been longer and much more detailed that Catra’s, Adora was always a sucker for that kind of thing.

“This is acceptable.” Shadow Weaver said, indicating she couldn’t find anything worth criticizing. “Your next assignment is ready.”

Catra’s eyebrow raised slightly. Another assignment already? “What’s the details?”

“Reconnaissance. Our scouts have reported that the Sea Gate of Salineas has managed to repair itself.” Shadow Weaver informed her. “Your goal will be to investigate how this came to be. Even _you_ should not be able to mess this up.”

Catra rolled her eyes. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“And you will not be alone.” Shadow Weaver continued on like Catra hadn’t spoken. “You will be joined by Force Captain Scorpia.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Catra objected, tone slightly Icey. “What do you mean I’ll be joined by Force Captain Scorpia?”

“It means that our more experienced Force Captain will be in charge of this mission to prevent any of your blunders.” Shadow Weaver said. “Is there a problem?”

Several, but she really wasn’t feeling up to talking with Shadow Weaver for longer than she had to.

“No.” Catra replied tightly.

“Then you are dismissed.”

Catra couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

* * *

“The castle’s distress beacon is on. Be ready everyone, it could be the Horde.”

Double Trouble rolled their eyes. Glimmer really did like stating the obvious, although that could just be a side effect of how on edge she’d been after finding out her father was alive.

Now _that_ was an interesting turn of events.

It was something out of a Salineas soap opera, the daughter of a noble finds out that her long lost sorcerer father is not dead, but in fact was exiled onto a haunted island.

_You literally could not make this up._

The only thing that could make this better was popcorn.

The trio entered Dryl in an experience akin to entering a ghost town. Not a living soul could be seen, it’s buildings looking like they’ve been abandoned for weeks. It was very theatrical in a way they could appreciate. Even if it really, really creeped them out.

“Hello? Anyone home?” Bow called out, his voice echoing across the castle to no response.

“Seems like no one’s home.” Double Trouble remarked before clapping their hands. “We tried, good job everyone, let’s head back to Brightmoon for hot chocolate and search elsewhere for the king.”

They turned around and made it three steps on the way out before Glimmer teleported them back to where they were supposed to be.

“We are not leaving until we find Entrapta and get her to help us.” Glimmer said in a tone indicating that was the end of this conversation.

“Okay, we need to be careful. Entrapta has traps set up all over her castle. They're supposed to be really cool.” Bow warned them.

This warning was punctuated by a person poking their head up from the sewer. “They're coming. Get out of the square.”

“Who? the Horde?” Bow asked, but it was for naught as the sewer person went back down the grate.

“Hello? Come back.” Glimmer requested.

But the person in the sewers was the least of their worries as an inhuman noise rang out across the courtyard, drowning out everything else.

“I'm thinking we should probably move away from whatever is making that sound.” Glimmer said and Double Trouble couldn’t agree more. This place was _really_ starting to creep them out.

The question of what the hell made that noise was answered as a trio of damaged robots lurked out from the darkness, and attacked them, forcing the trio back.

“Looks like one of Entrapta's designs.” Bow cried out. “Why would it attack us?”

Glimmer and Double Trouble backed away with Bow, all of them having their various weapons, (sparkles, a bow and a stolen Horde pistol respectively), at the ready.

This wasn’t good, they all needed cover. Fortunately there was a building nearby. “In here!”

But Bow was more cautious. “Careful, it could be a-”

Whatever it could be would remain lost to time as the door trap opened, sending Glimmer and Double Trouble spiralling down, hitting pipes multiple times before landing in a metal cage.

“Ow.” Double Trouble deadpanned.

They forced themselves up, and looked at the cage. They were trapped, great.

“Bow! He's all alone with those things!” Was Glimmer’s first words after getting back up. Someone needed to fix their priorities. “He needs us!”

“And _we_ need to get out of here.” They pointed out.

Glimmer sighed. “Come on, I'll teleport us out.”

They grabbed onto the Princess and were teleported out, ending up in a far too small hall, then they were at the edge of a cliff, then they were on top of a cliff inside the castle. Double Trouble had to grab onto Glimmer to stop her falling.

But this didn’t extend to the sword Glimmer carried on her back which slipped out of its hold and went clattering into the pit bellow. They then teleported one final time, ending up in a hallway.

“I think that’s enough teleporting for now.” Double Trouble said.

“Agreed.” Glimmer said before groaning. “I lost the sword! Mom’s going to kill me!”

“We can find it later.” They said dismissively. “Let’s just focus on getting out of here alive for now, alright darling?”

* * *

Adora wasn’t sure how long exactly they’d been down here. A week if she had to guess.

But it was a literal labyrinth underneath Dryl and it was impossible to know for certain. This uncertainty certainly wasn’t helped by the robots. They were attracted by noise and attacked her at every turn.

It was them that caused her to be separated from Micah about a day ago, them splitting up to draw away the robots attention. She hoped that he was okay.

Thankfully she didn’t have reason to worry about supplies just yet, there was plenty of food scattered around, but curiously only in the tiny variety.

It wasn’t too bad, the worst part was the crushing feeling of isolation that threatened to tear her mind apart…

Adora was forced out of her thoughts by a hauntingly familiar laugh that rang out across the halls of the kingdom.

“Show yourself.” Adora demanded tightly.

“Relax.” Catra walked into Adora’s vision from the shadows with a confident walk. “It’s just me.”

Adora instantly relaxed, it was just Catra.

“Good, I was worried that it would just be another robot.” Adora said with a smile, causing Catra to roll her eyes.

“You were always so paranoid.” Catra smiled fondly. “Like that time when we snuck into the kitchens and stole some ration bars, you were convinced that Shadow Weaver would pop out at any moment to scold us for it.”

Adora laughed, it’s sound echoing across the halls. “I do, you kept saying that it was fine and that at least we’d be together for it.”

“Together forever huh?” Catra repeated then her tone turned accusatory. “That was the plan until _you_ messed it up.”

“But I didn’t-”

“You did, You were the one caught.” Catra accused icily. “It was all your fault.”

Adora shook her head. “No. It was your plan, that makes it your fault.”

“But it was your incompetence that messed it up.” Catra was gone, Shadow Weaver had taken her place. “You were always useless. I don’t know why I ever bothered.”

“No, no.” Adora denied desperately. “I- I was good, I remember that. I always followed orders and completed training on time.”

Shadow Weaver laughed cruelly. “And yet you were sent to Beast Island for treason, curious.”

“I uh, it was- I never, I’m sorry.” Adora’s voice broke, tears in her eyes.

Shadow Weaver left and Catra returned.

“Look at _you_.” Catra laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. “You are _pathetic_. I can’t believe I was ever your friend.”

“shut up.” Adora whispered quietly.

“I was right to never come back for you.”

“SHUT UP!” Adora screamed, and moments later a loud ‘CLANG’ of something hitting the floor nearby was heard. She turned to face it and then turned back to face Catra, only to find that she was gone.

She was never there in the first place.

“It’s just a hallucination.” Adora said to herself. “It’s just a hallucination.”

It was the same old mantra she’d repeat after similar visions on the island, panic overtaking her much as it did then.

It took her a few minutes, but she ultimately did calm down. Thank goodness for that noise, she would have been hallucinating for hours if it hadn’t happened.

Still, she should probably have to check out what made the noise, it could attract the robots after all and that wouldn’t be good.

So Adora moved towards the noise, repeating the mantra under her breath as she did so. Eventually she found what had caused it and it was the most curious of things.

It was a sword.

But there was something _different_ about it, something that called to Adora. So almost in a trance, she walked over and picked it up.

But she regretted it almost immediately as the world fell apart and strange visions flooded her mind.

* * *

For a place with its reputation, Seaworthy’s tavern was surprisingly well kept.

Sure it was populated with dirty criminals and scum of Etheria, but the tavern itself was remarkably clean.

“So, this is the place?”

Catra rolled her eyes. “Yes Scorpia, this is the place.”

The ride over had been a pleasant enough affair, despite it having to be done on a boat. It definitely provided Catra with enough time to get a read on Scorpia. And as far as first impressions went, it was fine.

Scorpia was surprisingly pleasant for an ‘experienced Force Captain’ even if she was _far_ too liberal with the hugs and seemed a little… _different_ for lack of better word.

Seriously, odds are she was pretty amazing at combat, otherwise Catra had no idea how Scorpia had managed to make force captain.

“Cool, cool.” Scorpia swung her pincers absently. “So what’s the plan?”

“You’re asking me?” Catra asked in surprise.

“Of course!” Scorpia rubbed the back of her head. “I mean, I’m not really the best with plans and stuff, and you look like you’re really smart.”

Catra smiled, now _this_ was a nice change of place. “Well, let’s look around talk to people and see what they know. Go for the drunks, their tongues will be looser.”

“Good idea, I’ll go and chat to those guys over there.” Scorpia pointed out two of them sitting at a table at random. “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck.” Catra complied, then scanned the room for a target. Moments later she found them, clearly drunk but not absolutely smashed, physically not a threat due to advanced age and looked the type to be knowledgeable about the area.

Catra walked over and sat down next to him. “Hey.”

“Hello little lady.” The old sea captain slurred. “How can I help you?”

“I hear you’re the guy to ask for information.” Catra lied.

The old sea captain grinned. “You heard rightly, I know almost everything that goes on about these waters and I’ll tell you for a price.”

“Money is no object.” Catra reassured him. Of course she was lying, the second she got the info she was getting out of here.

“That’s what I like to hear.” The old captain grinned. “And I can guess what information your looking for.” He leaned forward confidently. “Your looking for Sea Hawk aren’t you?”

Catra blinked in confusion. “No, who the hell is Sea Hawk?”

“You don’t know who Sea Hawk is?” He sounded genuinely surprised. “Most people ask me about his whereabouts, for revenge and such.” The old captain explained. “Well then, this is a nice change of pace. What do you want to know?”

“I want to know about the Sea Gate, rumours say that it’s been fixed recently, no longer failing. Is it true?” Catra asked, she had no idea what exactly the Sea Gate itself actually was however and hoped that Scorpia would be able to make sense of whatever info she got.

“Aye, tis true. The amount of people I’ve been ferrying back in these last few days has been insane.”

“Do you know how it got fixed?” Catra pressed on.

The old captain grinned. “Aye, an old man and a girl. They fixed the gate and the Princess gave them an Airship.”

“Can you describe them?”

“I can do you one better, I saw them with me own two eyes.” He claimed. “The man was around middle aged, had this massive unkept black beard that was pretty distinctive. He was fairly tall as well.”

Catra nodded, noting the description. “And the girl?”

“Around your age, little taller though. Blonde hair and really light blue eyes.” The captain described her and Catra’s heart skipped a beat. It almost sounded like he was describing-

“That reminds me! I also talked to Sea Hawk about them the day after they left and he mentioned a very interesting detail.” The old captain leaned forward conspiratorially. “Apparently they managed to get off _Beast Island_.”

It couldn’t be. She was dead, Catra had confirmed it.

“Her name, what is the girl’s name?” Catra demanded with deadly calm.

“Adora.”

Catra’s breath stopped for a moment. “Which way did this airship go?”

“Towards Brightmoon I’d recon.” The old captain leaned back in his chair. “Now about my payment…”

Then Scorpia wondered over before the captain could finish. “Hey Catra, I couldn’t find anything. Sorry about that. Did you have any better luck?”

“As a matter of fact I did.” Catra told her fellow Force Captain. “Come on, let’s go.”

The captain coughed annoyingly. “My payment?”

“Scorpia.” Catra jerked her head in his direction.

“What do you… Oh!” Scorpia’s eyes widened in understanding and her tail stung the captain, paralyzing him instantly.

“Sorry about that.” Scorpia apologised to the old captain and the left the tavern. “Where to now partner?”

“Brightmoon, we need to scout it out.” Catra said instantly.

“Isn’t Brightmoon an impenetrable fortress, centre of the whole rebellion?” Scorpia asked timidly. “If we wanted to scout that out then I think we’ll need some back up.”

Catra shook her head a negative. “No, there’s no time. We need to save her, we need to save Adora.”

“Catra, who exactly is Adora?” Scorpia asked.

A thousand words sat on the edge of her tongue, but Catra settled on just three.

“My best friend.” Catra breathed shallowly. “She was my best friend, the one that I let take the fall for something we both did. But want to make it right, I _need_ to save her.”

“Right then, let’s go.” Scorpia said instantly, like she didn’t need to think about it.

“You… want to come with me?” Catra asked for confirmation, slightly shocked.

“Of course, this Adora gal sounds important to you and it sounds like she’s one ours right? No soldier left behind.” Scorpia said with a smile. “Besides, she probably knows what happened with the Sea Gate, so therefore she’s part of the mission.”

Carta smirked. “I like the way you think, come on let’s get moving. It’s a long way to Brightmoon after all.”

Just hold on a little while longer Adora…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of that chapter.
> 
> Things are moving, several pieces are now in place and the plot is chugging along. Not much else to say in terms of story notes except that Dryl was originally going to be just one chapter but grew far too large so I split it.
> 
> As always thanks everyone for reading with extra thanks to those that comment/review, you're all groovy.
> 
> Next time Adora meets DT and Glimmer, while Micah and Entrapta try their best to stop the robots. Till then, I'll catch ya'll on the flip flop.


	6. Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Micah encounters an eccentric scientist, while Adora meets a princess and a mercenary.

Whenever he found out whoever designed Dryl to be a labyrinth, Micah felt fairly certain he was going to punch them in the face.

Now normally he wouldn’t be considering such an option, but after a week of trying to navigate it Dryl had proven to be incomprehensible in its geography. Case in point, he’d passed that same picture of that same cat six times in the last eight hours alone.

And it didn’t help that he’d been separated from Adora for around a day now. They’d separated to escape from some robots; he hoped she was coping well.

Micah turned another corner, once again coming across that same damn picture of that same damn cat, mocking him with its smile.

But fortunately this time he was not alone.

She was fairly short and a bit stocky, with olive skin, rose eyes, and long purple hair. She was in working attire overalls which were covered in oil. Initially he suspected that she was a robot due to the welding mask with glowing red eyes she wore, but that was gone almost immediately to show her face.

She must be the princess in charge of here. Only a princess would be dressed that eccentrically.

“Hello!” She waved. “Who are you? I’ve never seen you before.”

“Micah. I arrived here just last week,” he introduced himself. “And you are?”

“Princess Entrapta,” she replied cheerfully. “Welcome to Dryl! Things are usually really fun around here, but right now it's all kind of a teensy bit deadly.”

“I didn’t notice,” Micah deadpanned.

“Really?” Entrapta looked thoughtful. Her hair then moved to bring a voice recorder to her face. “Note, there is the possibility that my robots are not as evil as I first thought if they left this old guy alone.”

“Hey, I am not that old!” he protested. “And I was being facetious.”

“Oh,” Entrapta said. “Post note, disregard previous note.”

There was a clanging noise nearby, indicating that robot was coming close to finding them.

“We need to go,” Micah decided and Entrapta nodded in agreement, and they set off.

“You're lucky I found you,” Entrapta said conversationally as they walked the corridors. “I designed the castle as a labyrinth. I'm the only one who can navigate it.”

“Does that mean you can help me find my friend?” Micah asked.

Entrapta nodded as they weaved in and out of the various hallways. “Absolutely.”

They then jumped down to another corridor only to wind up right next to that same picture of that same cat again. Micah felt his eye twitch just a little.

“Are you sure you know the way? I’ve passed the picture far too many times.”

“Oh, isn't it cute?” Entrapta said absently. “You might be right. I usually have my electronic map to get around. But, well, like my bots it's sort of evil right now.”

“Alright, but why exactly did you think that making evil robots was a good idea?” Micah asked curiously.

“They didn't start out that way. Usually they're super useful. They do almost everything for me. Cleaning, filing, basic hygiene. Oh, and they're sound activated. Here, I'll show you!”

In a moment of spectacularly poor decision making, Entrapta clapped her hands and a massive robot designed for cleaning appeared.

Thinking fast, Micah moved his hands quickly and fired a spell at the robot. A simple spell that transported the machine exactly a dozen miles west and directly into a lake if his geography was correct.

“You’re a sorcerer?” Entrapta asked. “Fascinating!” She quickly got close and took some measurements. “Tell me, at what age did you start exhibiting magical ability?”

“A few weeks after birth I guess,” Micah replied uncomfortably. “But that’s neither here nor there. What caused the robots to freak out like this?”

“It's really fascinating,” Entrapta claimed. “I've been experimenting with a disc that was recovered from a mine in Dryl. It was a game-changer. It held more complete First Ones code than anything I've ever seen before. But it seems to have reacted with the First Ones tech that powers my bots. It infected them with some sort of a virus.”

“And if we destroy this disk, would it stop the virus?”

“In theory, but the experiment isn’t over!” Entrapta said.

“I think we can assume it was a failure,” Micah said.

“But what if it's not- no, you're right, it's a failure,” she conceded.

Micah looked around to make sure things were safe. “So where exactly is your lab?”

“Follow me!”

* * *

“Uggghhh.”

Adora rubbed her head as she woke up, strange visions dancing in her head.

That was weird. Grayskull? Light Hope? Adora was fairly certain that she’d finally lost it. Her sanity had finally decided to part ways with her. The signs were on the wall.

But at the same time, those quick visions felt so very much _real_. And the sword just felt right in her hand, like it was meant to be.

“Balance must be restored. Etheria must seek a hero,” Adora muttered underneath her breath. That’s what the vision said. But what did it mean?

Adora snapped out her revelations by the noise of two people arguing.

“I’m telling you, it’s this way,” a female voice claimed.

“And I’m saying that we’ve passed that same vase three times already,” a different voice argued back.

Yeah, their bickering was going to be a great way to attract some evil robots. Adora swung the sword onto her back and ran towards the voices.

What she came across was the oddest duo she’d ever seen. One was a green skinny lizard-like creature, and the other was a pretty lady with hair that seemed to _literally sparkle_ but also seemed kinda familiar.

“Hello there!” Adora called out as she got closer, causing the arguing duo to stop in their tracks.

“Oh goodie, a local,” the green person said, but the sparkly girl’s eyes narrowed.

“Not a local.” She sounded angry. “She’s Horde, probably helped turn these robots evil.”

“No, no, no. I’m not with the Horde!” Adora protested, although she might as well have not said anything at all. She was still wearing the uniform after all.

Still, based on their reaction to the uniform there was a decent chance that they were rebels and if she could convince them that she was with Micah, then there was decent chance they’d be able to help her out.

But before Adora could get another word out she was forced to dodge sparkle blasts, having to deflect the last one with her new sword.

“Hey, would you look at that. She has your sword.”

“Gee, thanks Double Trouble. I didn’t notice,” the girl said.

But this ‘Double Trouble’ just grinned. “Then it’s good that I’m here, isn’t it darling?”

The girl didn’t say anything but instead shot more sparkles for Adora to dodge.

“Hey! Could. You. Please. Just. Listen. To. Me,” Adora said in between blasts. “You’re going to attract the robots!”

The familiar looking girl stopped attacking and looked at Adora suspiciously. “How do you know that?”

“Because I’ve been trying to avoid them for a week now,” Adora explained. “I came here to get help so that I could get to Brightmoon. I’m no longer with the Horde.”

The girl continued to look sceptically at her, but Double Trouble just laughed.

“Alright, but what are you not telling us?”

“Huh?”

“It’s all in your body language, my dear. You’re holding something back from us,” they explained. “What is it?”

Adora hesitated. Based on what Mermista had said, Micah was believed to be dead. But she didn’t really have any other options. “Well, I came here with-”

But before she could even say the first syllable of Micah, a giant robot with two smaller friends lurched from the darkness and attacked them, sending Adora flying into a wall with its opening strike.

A dozen half forgotten swears that Catra had taught her came to mind, but Adora pushed herself up off the ground in time to avoid another strike from the giant robot.

Because _of course_ the big one would go for her first.

Adora rolled away from another strike and barely raised the sword in time to deflect another.

“Come on, Magic Sword,” she urged the relic. It gave her those visions earlier; maybe it could do something that was actually useful? “Oh, where's a blinding flash of light when you need one?”

Adora blocked another strike and to her surprise she did indeed get a response.

“Adora. Adora. Adora,” a voice in her head said, the same voice from her visions. “Will you fight for the honour of Grayskull?”

…The honour of Grayskull? That phrase was mentioned in her visions too. It sounded… _important_ somehow. More than that, Adora just _knew_ that it was important.

Adora blocked a final strike and stepped back and on instinct raised the sword above her head.

“For the honour of Grayskull!”

An overwhelming feeling of power and confidence surged through Adora as a blinding light briefly obscured her vision. When it returned the room was smaller than it was before, and Adora felt stronger and tougher than she did before, like she could hold up the sky if she wanted to.

Even the robots seemed shocked at this turn of events and before the one facing her could react, Adora swung her sword which passed through the machine like a hot knife through butter.

She turned to face the duo who had evidentially dealt with the other two robots.

“So, that’s what the sword does then?” Double Trouble whistled appreciatively. “Well, colour me impressed.”

Wait, the sword did something to her? Well Adora did feel stronger than before and the room was a little smaller than before… Adora looked down and freaked out just a little bit.

That _definitely_ wasn’t what she’d been previously wearing. And her hair…

Not even when she’d been with the Horde had it been _this_ clean and long.

“What have you done to me!?” Adora shouted hysterically, taking several steps back as she did so.

“Nothing,” the girl said calmly, taking a few cautious steps towards Adora. “I think you just activated its power.”

As the girl said this an expression of curiosity became apparent on her face and Adora knew why she was so familiar.

Adora had seen that exact expression before, on Micah. This meant that there was only one person this could be.

“You’re Glimmer! You’re Micah’s daughter!” she practically shouted at the revelation, however before Glimmer could respond, a forth robot lurched from the darkness to attack them. Acting quickly, Adora stabbed it directly into the glowing red core, powering down the robot instantly.

But this was a pyrrhic victory, as the red infection on the robots spread to Adora’s new sword and she was overcome by a singular feeling.

Rage.

She swung at the robot again and again and again, intending to reduce it to a fine powder. It was at this point that Glimmer pulled her away from the robot and wrestled the sword out of Adora’s grasp before she could react properly.

Adora couldn’t remember much after this as she immediately passed out.

* * *

Killer robots aside, Entrapta was having a really good day.

In fact if her robots weren’t trying to kill her then Entrapta would have spent a few days just observing the virus infected robots to see what they’d do.

But unfortunately whenever they spotted her, the robots would attack immediately, meaning that opportunities for observation were sorely lacking.

Fortunately she’d found a new subject of interest.

Micah, as he called himself, was a sorcerer, meaning that he used magic, one of the few areas where her subject knowledge was somewhat lacking, mostly due to how she didn’t know any sorcerers before now.

Right, now was her laboratory right, left or down? Entrapta consulted her memory and decided that going right was the best call.

“Tell me, what does magic feel like?” Entrapta asked suddenly as the thought entered her brain.

“I uh, what?” Micah replied.

“Magic,” Entrapta said slowly. “What, does, it, _feel_ , like?”

“That is a complicated question.” Micah frowned. “It’s different for every sorcerer. Some scholars in Mystacor have dedicated their entire live to theories on why.”

“Fascinating.” Entrapta grinned as she took another left, or, wait, was she supposed to have taken a right there? Eh, it didn’t matter, they could always backtrack.

A few more turns, jumps and a single instance of encountering her mechanical creations later and they managed to reach her laboratory.

“This is my lab.” Entrapta grinned and typed in her code only to get promptly shocked. Even the _door_ was infected. _Fascinating_. “Wow, the door is infected too; it won't let us in. That is so smart. And awful. We're all going to die.”

“Great.” Micah sighed, probably because of some unrelated problem. “Can you think of any way in?”

Entrapta considered the geography of the castle for a few moments. “Well I suppose that we could go through the vents.” Then a huge possible problem that just occurred to her. “But we have no idea what’s on the other side. Just imagine what my machines could be doing right now…”

Entrapta trailed off imagining the possibilities.

“I think that I might be able to help with that.” Micah said. “Provided that we aren’t interrupted, I could cast a spell that would let us see through this wall here.”

An opportunity to observe actual magic? Yes! Yes! Yes! Count her in.

“Just let me make some notes.”

* * *

It was about ten minutes before Horde girl woke back up.

Ten of the longest minutes of Glimmer’s life. This girl knew _who_ she was and mentioned her dad by name. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that she was Adora, the supposed Horde exile mentioned by Mermista.

Not only that, but she had activated the sword that Mom had said was a ‘very powerful weapon in the right hands’ and it had turned her into an eight foot tall warrior with the best hair Glimmer had ever seen.

Needless to say Glimmer wanted answers.

“Would you mind terribly cutting it out with the pacing?” Double Trouble requested. “If your steps were any louder then the robots would be swarming us.”

Glimmer’s only response was to pace even more just to spite them.

Thankfully they didn’t have to wait much longer as Adora finally stirred and Glimmer teleported next to her so that she could help.

“Are you okay?” Glimmer asked softly, kneeling down next to her.

Adora opened her eyes, blinked twice and smiled. “No, I’m Adora silly.”

“Good to meet you Adora. As I’m sure you know I’m Glimmer, and this here is Double Trouble,” Glimmer told her, helping Adora to her feet as she did so. But the task was more difficult than anticipated as Adora made no real effort to stay upright.

“Double Trouble? More like _Single Trouble_.” Adora gave a loud obnoxious laugh like this was the funniest joke in the whole world.

Glimmer and Double Trouble looked at each other and then back at Adora.

Something wasn’t right here.

“Alright, Adora isn’t it? I need to know, do you have any idea where Micah, my dad, is?” Glimmer asked urgently.

“Nope!” Adora said cheerfully.

“What do you mean no!? When did you last see him?”

“A while ago.” Adora shrugged before leaning forward conspiratorially. “He had a beard,” she whispered.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was drunk,” Double Trouble said thoughtfully.

“How? She was fine just a moment ago,” Glimmer said.

“Beats me.” Double Trouble shrugged. “And I think we should be focusing on us getting out of here.”

“Not until we find Dad. If she’s here, then odds are so’s my dad.” Glimmer turned to face Adora. “What happened the last time you saw him?”

Adora giggled. “There was all these robots, they were all like, PEW, PEW, PEW.” Adora acted out the sound effects with her arms and hands. “Then he was all like, Wham!” Adora made a punching motion before abruptly ending the story.

“And then?” Double Trouble prompted.

“I dunno, we split up like a day ago,” Adora told them. “I hope he’s okay, there’s only little food.”

Glimmer just groaned and face palmed. “Great, just… _great_.”

Adora nodded along enthusiastically. “Exactly! Like you. You guys look _awesome_.”

“Thank you!” Double Trouble threw their hands up. “ _Finally_ someone notices.”

“You’re the greenest person ever.” Adora said before turning to face Glimmer. “And you’re so _pretty_. Your hair _sparkles_.”

“Thanks…?” Glimmer trailed off awkwardly at the strange complement, but Adora took this as permission to try and touch the ‘sparkly’ hair.

“It’s so soft.” Adora said in a hushed, awed voice. Glimmer then took Adora’s hand out of her hair, leading to a small frown on Adora’s face.

“We do not have time for this,” Glimmer said. “Let’s get moving. We’ve been here too long anyway. I’m kinda surprised that no robots are here based on the amount of noise we’ve been making…”

Glimmer trailed off as a dozen of said robots lurched out from the darkness the very second she finished her sentence.

“Glimmer darling, I’m going to offer you some advice, for free, just this once,” Double Trouble said carefully, keeping an eye on the robots as they did so. “ _Never_ tempt fate like that. The universe always takes it as a challenge.”

“Noted.”

The robots surrounded them, in perfect formation with no notably exploitable weaknesses. Stupid smart robots.

“Do you think that teleporting us out is still an option?” Double Trouble asked.

“Depends, would you mind losing your legs?” Glimmer replied tensely.

“Nevermind.”

Then, before the robots could begin their attack, the reinforcements arrived.

“It's Bow!” Glimmer called out in relief.

“Yay, there's a rainbow!” Adora also cheered.

Glimmer and Double Trouble only had to watch as the robots were beaten back and destroyed by not only Bow, but also three people who were obviously castle staff. They decimated the robots, several arrows destroying robots with well placed shots. The staff meanwhile used their various kitchen appliances to smash the robots to pieces, with their unconventional weapons proving enough to throw off the robots.

“Bow!” Glimmer ran forward and hugged her oldest friend. “You're okay! I was _so_ worried.”

“Yes, it’s good to see you.” Double Trouble grinned. “And I have to say, _perfect_ timing, gave the whole battle a real _cinematic_ feel.”

“Who’s this?” Bow noticed the new arrival.

“This is Adora, she’s a little out of it right now,” Glimmer explained. “But she knows my dad.”

Bow raised his hand to shake. “Great to meet you Adora.”

Adora shook it clumsily and didn’t say anything, instead deciding to pass out immediately afterwards.

Ignoring this, Glimmer spoke. “Right we need to stop this virus that’s infecting the robots. It’s probably started at Entrapta’s lab so we’ll start there. Then we can find my dad.”

“Entrapta’s lab? We know how to get there,” the plump baker woman, most likely one of the staff, told them and Glimmer grinned. Finally something was going her way.

“Please, lead on.”

* * *

Scorpia whistled a tune as she returned to the campfire with a stack of wood in her pincers.

She and Catra were currently camped out inside a clearing in the Whispering Woods about halfway on their journey to Brightmoon.

Catra had wanted to go straight to Brightmoon, but her point was undermined by her falling asleep midway through the argument. So being the reasonable person she was, Scorpia set up camp in the clearing and went to get wood for the fire.

And gosh darn it this was looking to be the best camping trip ever!

Maybe they could roast some ration bars over the fire, or maybe they could tell ghost stories!

Scorpia entered the clearing and deposited the firewood into the centre of it. She was pleased to note that Catra was once again awake and waiting for her.

“Good you’re back,” Catra greeted her. “Let’s get going.”

“But we’ve only just got here!” Scorpia protested. “Besides, it’s practically pitch black out there.” Scorpia pulled out a pack of matches and started to try and light one. “I think it’s better if we camp out for the night.”

“No, we are heading to Brightmoon _now_ ,” Catra said in what was supposed to be a dangerous tone, but it was undermined by just how _tired_ she sounded.

“Yeah, no. You sound dead on your feet.” Scorpia shook her head as her she failed to light a match. “Besides, I can’t even see out there, so we’ll need light if we want to get to Brightmoon.”

Catra still looked like she wanted to rush off into the night to the centre of the whole rebellion, but instead just nodded and sat down on a log. “Fine.”

Scorpia inwardly cheered and continued unsuccessfully trying to light a match on the box. But it was harder than it looked and she just couldn’t do it.

A few minutes and several matches later, Scorpia still hadn’t achieved success. Looking increasingly annoyed at this, Catra got up and snatched the matches out of Scorpia’s pincers and lit a match on her first try.

“Thanks for the help,” Scorpia said genuinely.

“Whatever,” Catra grumbled as the campfire was finally lit, its warm glow lighting up the area. Scorpia then dug out two ration bars and threw one to Catra who caught it easily.

Scorpia took her own seat on a log and started to eat her own ration bar, taking in the heat of the warm fire under the starless sky.

The duo sat there silently, no words spoken over the roar of the fire as they finished eating. It was a pleasant silence, but Scorpia was a naturally social person and this was _prime_ bonding time for her and her new buddy.

“The moons look pretty tonight.” Scorpia tried to break the ice.

Catra glanced at the night sky. “I guess.”

Catra discarded her half eaten ration bar into the flames. Then she just looked unblinkingly into the fire, looking like she was doing some serious thinking.

Now Scorpia was no expert, but this didn’t seem like usual behaviour from her fellow Force Captain. In fact ever since the name of her friend (Adora, wasn’t it?) was mentioned, Catra had seemed completely on edge.

Well, there was only one thing for it.

Scorpia walked over to Catra and without a word of warning she scooped her up into a big ol’ patented Scorpia hug.

“What are you doing?!” Catra hissed as she rather futilely attempted to escape.

“Giving you a big old hug of course!” Scorpia explained cheerfully.

“Why?” Catra growled but slowly did start to struggle less.

“You looked a little down in the dumps and I thought that you could use a little cheering up.”

“Well I don’t. So just put me _down_ already.”

Scorpia complied with the request and set her buddy down. “Well what’s got you all like this?”

“It’s just… It’s just some stuff about Adora,” Catra admitted.

“Want to talk about it?” Scorpia offered.

“No.”

Scorpia just smiled and nodded encouragingly. “Cool, cool. I can totally respect that and if you do decided that you want to talk about it after all, then you call me up, Wildcat.”

Catra raised an eyebrow. “Wildcat?”

“It’s a nickname.” Scorpia rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. “I thought it would be nice, but if you don’t like it…”

“No, no, it’s fine actually.” Catra actually smiled. “I kinda like it.”

“That’s great! So uh, good night, Wildcat,” Scorpia said as she picked out a nice patch of dirt to sleep on.

“Night,” Catra said before lying down on her own patch of dirt. “And Scorpia? Thank you for the offer, and who knows, I might just take you up on it someday.”

No other words were said as they both soon quickly fell into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

Micah grunted as he left the vents with Entrapta, finally having entered the room.

His spell had shown that the robots were entrenched in the laboratory and that it was covered in strange metallic growths emerging from where Entrapta claimed the disk was.

“How fascinating.” Entrapta grinned as they spied the growth that covered the disk. “It has completely protected itself.”

“So, how do you think we should do this?” Micah asked her scientific opinion.

Entrapta look thoughtful. “Well, if you could get me to that wall over there I could unplug the main power source. In theory that should shut it down.”

Micah looked at the room of robots looking very menacing, and then ran through his mental list of spells before shaking his head.

“No. I couldn’t take on that many robots, not without help,” Micah said. “We’d need a miracle.”

Then there was a miracle. The doors to the room exploded open and the cavalry arrived.

They charged into the room with a barrage of sparkly blasts. Arrows and baked goods were fired at the robots as the defenders charged into the room. To Micah’s delight Adora was with them, wielding a mop of all things. And one of the cavalry looked familiar, almost like-

“For the rebellion!”

They engaged the robots, carving a neat path through them. Not being one to stay out of the action, Micah joined the fray. He sent magical blasts toward the nearest robots, blasting them apart with only one hit.

The group kept up the offensive as Entrapta made her way to the power conduit.

But Micah had more pressing concerns as he had to pull Adora of harm’s way, barely getting her out of the grasp of a particularly big robot.

“Micah, buddy!” Adora cheered. “Let’s go dancing.”

But he couldn’t focus on Adora’s strange behaviour as Entrapta finally pulled the power cable out of the wall. In spite of this the robots continued on attacking them.

“Uh, why isn't the computer turning off?” the darker skinned rebel with a bow asked.

Entrapta laughed. “It's running on its own power now!” Entrapta looked deathly serious for the first time since Micah had met her, the abrupt change in mood showing just how serious the situation was. “That's it. We need to get outta here and burn this place to the ground. Experiment _officially_ failed.”

“Wait, I have an idea,” the rebel said as he pulled a specific arrow from his quiver. “Now's your chance, sonic arrow! I believe in you!”

The rebel fired the arrow at the disc and it landed with perfect aim, making sonic waves that successfully destroyed the disk, deactivating all of the robots.

“Where am I?” Adora snapped out of whatever state she was in. “What's happening?”

“We destroyed the virus disk. The robots have been defeated,” Micah aid simply. “And even better, I’m sure that these people are rebels that can help us get to Brightmoon.”

“That’s good.” Adora smiled before frowning. “Where did the sword go?”

The sword?

Micah turned to look at the rebels that saved them more closely and indeed one of them did have a sword over her back and she looked familiar, so very familiar…

“Glimmer?” Micah’s voice cracked.

“Dad?” Glimmer’s voice also cracked.

They didn’t say anything else.

They didn’t need to.

Micah rushed over and hugged his little girl, all so very grown up, so much older than he’d ever thought she’d be. But that was alright.

He was reunited with his daughter.

Just for this moment, all was right in the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of that chapter.
> 
> Well this was a fun one to write, particularly Scorpia and Catra's section. Although virus infected Adora and Entrapta are hard characters to write well, I think I did well with them.
> 
> As always thank you to my wonderful Beta, Yours Truly Jezebel for looking over this chapter.
> 
> And thank you everyone for reading with extra thanks to those that review/comment, your all groovy.
> 
> Next time the gang finally gets back to Brightmoon. But till then, I'll catch ya'll on the flip flop.


	7. Adora In Brightmoon

The Whispering Woods were a lot more peaceful than Adora thought they’d be.

She’d been slightly alarmed when they told her that getting to Brightmoon would mean that they’d have to pass through the woods, but so far the journey had proven to be largely uneventful.

They’d left Entrapta behind to look after her kingdom and had set off almost immediately.

The party consisted of her, Micah, his daughter Princess Glimmer, the mercenary Double Trouble and the archer ironically named Bow.

So it was just Adora, former cadet from the Horde, walking in the Whispering Woods with a group of rebels.

Fun.

Still, it wasn’t the worst. They’d been walking for a few hours now and the entire time Micah had been chatting with Glimmer, his daughter catching him up on what her life had been like for the last few years. She only stopped to hug him, which occurred every ten minutes.

It was something you’d never see in the Horde and gave Adora a warm feeling in her chest that she didn’t have a name for. But it felt nice, so there was that.

“Hey,” Bow said. “Are you doing alright? I realise that this must be a _lot_ for you to be taking in.”

“It’s fine.” Adora shrugged. “I’m dealing with it.”

Bow nodded. “That’s good, and I don’t believe we’ve actually met properly. I’m Bow.”

“Adora.” They shook hands and Adora gave a hesitant smile.

“So, you used to be with the Horde?” Bow asked.

“Yep,” Adora said. “I was exiled and that’s all I want to say about it.”

“I understand,” Bow said soothingly. “It probably wasn’t the best of times.”

“Nope,” Adora said in a tone that indicated that she didn’t want to continue this particular line of conversation. Bow thankfully picked up on this.

“So… Is this your first time in the Whispering Woods?” Bow asked.

“It is actually,” Adora said. “And I’m surprised that we haven’t been attacked by some monster yet. The Horde always said that the Woods contained hundreds of terrible beasts and Princesses.” Adora peered into the woods, looking to see if any of said beasts and/or princesses were about to ambush them.

Bow shook his head. “I don’t think that’s particularly likely. I grew up in these woods for most of my life and I’ve never had any problems.”

Adora looked at him skeptically. “If it’s all the same to you I’ll be keeping an eye out.”

“Smart move,” Double Trouble praised her, joining the conversation very suddenly. “We might be close to Brightmoon but that’s no reason to get complacent.”

“Double Trouble isn’t it?” Adora held out a hand to shake. “It’s good to meet you, properly this time.” Her face turned slightly red at the fuzzy memories of being infected with the virus.

“Yes, I was wondering about that.” They looked thoughtful. “How did you manage to activate the sword?”

“Wait, she _activated_ _the_ _sword_?” Bow interrupted.

“Yep, and it was quite an interesting experience. There was something of a light show and suddenly Adora here was eight feet tall and strong enough to cut through the robots like paper,” Double Trouble recounted for Bow.

Adora thought back to that weird experience, the strange visions in her mind, the overwhelming feeling of strength and _power_ that flooded her. She then eyed the sword which had been returned to its place slung over Glimmer’s back.

“I’ve got no idea how I did it,” she said eventually.

Double Trouble hummed. “Shame.”

The conversation ended there as they all finally exited the woods into the open, showing a truly beautiful castle.

It was a large white castle of white and gold. The castle’s runestone glowed on its own tower connected nearby. Massive waterfalls poured down from the mountain it was connected to, all of it looming over a picture perfect still sea. Set against the backdrop of a jaw dropping moonset.

It was beautiful.

“This is Brightmoon?” Adora asked no one in particular, awe colouring her tone.

“It is,” Micah confirmed breathlessly. “My home.”

Micah looked faint and shook unsteadily like he was about to collapse where he stood, but Glimmer steadied him.

“Thanks,” he said, voice barely above a whisper. “Is she…?”

“Mom’s waiting for us,” Glimmer confirmed.

Adora walked over to him and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Are you ready?”

“No.” Micah shook his head. “But I know that I’ll never be…” He took a deep breath. “Let’s head down.”

They went down the pass slowly and crossed the bridge into Brightmoon which loomed large over them as they walked closer.

A lone woman was waiting at the gates for them.

Adora recognised her almost immediately. Her face was the one that was on every briefing and class about the rebellion, the face that they were all taught to fear and hate.

It was Queen Angella.

Micah stopped in his tracks when he saw her and whispered something that Adora couldn’t quite make out. And in the blink of an eye, the Queen and Micah were hugging.

* * *

Catra’s heart was in her mouth when they finally arrived at Brightmoon.

They approached by a mountain path, inaccessible to most vehicles but perfect for two travellers. Once they were at the peak of the mountain path they camped at, they opened up some binoculars and watched just in time to see Adora enter the heart of the rebellion.

Well, if this wasn’t an example of her shitty luck, then she had no idea what was.

Catra made a move to rush closer to Brightmoon, ready to storm the whole damn castle herself if necessary. But Scorpia gripped Catra’s arms firmly to prevent her from making any rash decisions.

“Easy there Wildcat, where do you think you’re going?” Scorpia asked.

“Storming Brightmoon. Stay here and I’ll be back with Adora soon,” Catra hissed as she struggled against Scorpia’s iron grip.

“Catra, that’s a _terrible_ idea,” Scorpia said immediately, apparently unbothered by Catra’s continued struggling. “There are hundreds of rebels and princesses in there and only two of us.”

“Your point being?”

“We could get seriously hurt,” Scorpia said slowly, like she was talking to a small child, which caused Catra to scowl harder.

“I. Don’t. Care,” Catra spat out. “I _need_ to get in there and rescue Adora.”

Scorpia’s face flashed with indecisiveness which Catra used to break out of her grip, and made a dash for it. Unfortunately, Scorpia was slightly faster and pinned Catra to the ground.

“Listen,” Scorpia said as Catra swore every swear she knew, going in an A-to-Z fashion. “If we rush in or even try to sneak in, then we’ll be caught. There’s no way that we can take out all of the guards. We should fall back and get help from Shadow Weaver or something.”

Catra rolled her eyes. As if Shadow Weaver would help her. Then again, maybe she’d lend a hand if it would mean Adora’s safe return…

Catra made a noise halfway between a growl and a groan. Scorpia was right, the two of them couldn’t storm Brightmoon and get out safely with Adora. It would be downright stupid to try it now.

And despite what Shadow Weaver thought, Catra was _not_ an idiot.

“Fine,” she said shortly. “Let go of me and we’ll head back to the Fright Zone for reinforcements.”

Scorpia blinked twice. “Really?”

“Yes!”

Scorpia let go of Catra who pulled herself right back to her feet. Catra had to roll her eyes at how trusting Scorpia was for just accepting that answer.

“Come on, let’s get moving.” Catra said. “The faster, the better.”

Scorpia said something but Catra wasn’t paying attention as she stole one last look at Brightmoon.

_Just hold on a little while longer Adora…_

* * *

Adora screamed into her pillow.

This was not intentional, however, as said pillow had fallen right into her face.

After the Queen, Princess and Micah had all went away to catch up out of the public eye, Bow took Adora to a ‘spare room’ that she could use for the night before everything was talked over in the morning.

Said spare room was twice as big as what she remembered the old cadet bunk room being.

After Bow had left, Adora decided that some sleep would be the right move as tomorrow was likely to be a long day. Unfortunately her ‘bed’ was massive and she immediately began to sink and _drown_ under the sheer amount of pillows present.

Alright, drown might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but it was still hard alright?

Adora fought her way up and out of the bed, literally ripping pillows apart to clear her vision. Unfortunately, this had the opposite effect as feathers went everywhere, over her eyes and in her mouth.

But slowly and painstakingly Adora managed to roll out of the oppressive softness of the bed and onto the reassuringly solid floor.

She then pulled herself up off said floor and opened up her small bag that Mermista had given her to hold stuff in. Adora then pulled out her old blanket, the one from her old bunk in the Horde, the one that she used every night on Beast Island, and she went over to the sofa that the guest room had.

She’d slept overnight on a sofa in Salineas as well. It reminded her of the beds they had back in the Fright Zone.

After a year of sleeping alone on a cold sandy beach you learned to take what you could get.

Very quickly she set herself up and dozed off, too exhausted to even focus on her anxieties about being in Brightmoon, very centre of the rebellion.

Adora closed her eyes for what seemed like a moment before she felt someone gently shaking her.

She opened an eye to discover that the morning light was flooding into the room and that it was Glimmer shaking her awake.

“Hey, Adora, wasn’t it?” Glimmer smiled softly. “I need you to get up.”

“What’s up?” Adora asked, voice raspy and throat dry as it often was in the morning.

“Here, have some water.” Glimmer handed her a glass, to which Adora hummed appreciatively. “Well, I came to get you because you’ve been invited to a meeting in the afternoon to talk about you and dad,” Glimmer explained.

Adora’s heart skipped a beat or ten. “A meeting?”

“Yeah, in the war room.”

She supposed that it made sense that the rebels would want to know her story and want to know what Micah’d been through for the last few years. Still, that didn’t really help with the anxiety that suddenly flared up inside her.

“Are you alright there?” Glimmer asked, sounding concerned.

“I’m fine.” Adora fell back on her all-purpose response for any and all situations involving someone asking how she was. “Where is the war room?”

“That’s part of the reason I’m here.” Glimmer clapped her hands together. “I’m going to give you the grand tour of Brightmoon!”

“Sounds great.” Adora gave her a smile so weak that a light breeze could have blown it apart.

Glimmer didn’t pick up on how dead inside Adora sounded, or if she did then she chose not to comment on it. “Great! I was thinking that we could start in the dining room – breakfast should be ready by now – then I’ll show you the library, the observatory, ball room, the kitchens, the throne room and then we should be at the war room by lunch.”

“Sounds great,” Adora repeated.

“Hey.” Glimmer put a hand on Adora’s shoulder. “I know this must be hard, but trust me when I say you will love it here,” Glimmer said with all the confidence in the world. “I mean you already have at least three friends.”

“I do?” Adora asked in surprise.

“Well, of course there’s my dad.” Glimmer counted on her fingers. “Then there’s Bow, he’s like the friendliest guy in the world, and finally… me.”

“You?”

“Me,” Glimmer confirmed. “You rescued my dad after all, and you seem like a nice person, so we could be friends if you wanted.”

Adora thought back to her last ‘friend’, the person that left her to die on Beast Island.

“It’s nice of you to offer, but I don’t think I’m quite ready for a friendship at the moment,” Adora said apologetically. “In any case I’d quite like to take that tour now.”

Glimmer didn’t question Adora’s statement but instead smiled.

“Great! Follow me!”

* * *

As a general rule, _nothing_ surprised Shadow Weaver.

She was prepared for the vast majority of scenarios that the universe could throw her way. She made sure to think about every variable that could factor into her plans.

Of course only a fool would try to prepare for absolutely everything; doing so was an exercise in futility and stupidity. 

So, she only prepared for the most likely and possibly dangerous scenarios, occasionally giving thought to some of the more unlikely ones.

This had served her well in the past. Since joining the Horde she had only been surprised three times, all three of which were things that she could not possibly predict.

The first was Adora. Shadow Weaver had had no idea that Hordak would show up with a baby of all things after a failed portal test. But it would prove a very fortunate surprise as Adora would change Shadow Weaver’s life.

For better or worse remained to be seen.

The second surprise came just sixteen years later, when Adora managed to get herself sent to Beast Island.

In hindsight the writing was on the walls. Catra had been getting Adora into trouble for years. It was only a matter of time before her recklessness got poor Adora into trouble this big.

The real surprise was that Adora refused to give Catra up to save herself. It baffled her even to this day.

But what was done was done. Shadow Weaver had lost a valuable pupil that day, one that she even cared for in her own way.

Not even six months later was when Shadow Weaver was surprised for the third and (to date) final time.

A report came across her desk that informed her about how Catra was improving in nearly every aspect. She didn’t talk back to her instructors as much, she showed up on time for classes and was at the top of all her training courses.

It was like she was actually trying to improve, which made up a good chunk of the reason Shadow Weaver promoted her to force captain.

But other than those three instances, Shadow Weaver had not been truly surprised since she assumed her current name.

This was why she was unsurprised to see Force Captain’s Catra and Scorpia enter her chamber several days after they were due to report back.

Typical.

“You’re late.”

Like clockwork a scowl appeared on Catra’s face. So very predictable.

“I don’t care. We’ve completed the mission; we know how the rebellion fixed the Sea Gate,” Catra reported.

There was a moment of silence before Shadow Weaver spoke, each word dripping with sarcasm. “Please, tell me. I’m _dying_ to know.”

“A sorcerer fixed it with magic,” Catra said.

Shadow Weaver raised an eyebrow, not that Catra could see it behind the mask. “That’s very much impossible. There was only one sorcerer powerful enough to do that and he’s been dead for years.”

“His name was Micah, right?” Catra asked rhetorically and Shadow Weaver was surprised for a fourth time.

“How exactly did you hear that name?” Shadow Weaver asked slowly and dangerously, causing Catra to involuntarily take a step back. Good.

“Apparently it’s the name of the guy that fixed the Sea Gate.” Catra took a deep breath. “And that’s not all. Adora’s alive.”

It was at this point that Shadow Weaver had the unique feeling of being surprised twice in a row.

“You _lie_.”

“It’s not a lie. We tracked them to Brightmoon and saw them enter the kingdom itself,” Catra claimed.

“It’s true,” Scorpia confirmed. “We saw them with our own eyes.”

Shadow Weaver’s mind raced with the possibilities, Micah was alive, Adora was alive, and both of them were in Brightmoon. Catra was most certainly not lying, no, Shadow Weaver was always able to tell when she was lying. Right now Catra was telling the truth.

“Leave me.”

“Didn’t you hear a word I said?” Catra hissed. “Adora’s alive, and we need to rescue her-”

“Leave me,” Shadow Weaver repeated. She then used magic to pick up and throw Catra and Scorpia out of the room, slamming the door behind them.

Then without a second thought Shadow Weaver went over to her cauldron and quickly summoned her shadow spies. She needed more information if she was going to turn this situation to her advantage…

* * *

It was with much trepidation that Adora entered the war room right behind Glimmer.

Nothing to really worry about, just the fact she was going to be in the same room as a bunch of rebels, ones that she’d been told were ruthless monsters that would torture her without a second thought.

Still, Brightmoon didn’t seem like the kind of place where much torturing happened. Everyone had been surprisingly nice so far and they even gave Adora _pancakes_ for breakfast.

After entering the room Adora was relieved to see a few friendly faces. Micah was sitting in what was most likely his throne next to Queen Angella. Mermista gave a short friendly nod that contrasted with Bow’s much more enthusiastic waving of hands as he gestured to the two empty seats beside him.

Entrapta was also in the room, working on some form of bit bop on the table, much to the discomfort of the two Princesses next to her.

Adora hesitantly took her seat, right between Bow and a princess covered in flowers.

“Hi, I’m Perfuma,” the Princess greeted her.

“Adora.”

They shook hands, and the Queen stood up to start the meeting.

“Good morning everyone. I trust that you all had a safe journey?” she asked the room to general noises of agreement, causing the Queen to give a satisfied nod. “Good, and as I’m sure you can see, we have some new guests here today.”

The Queen waved her hand in the direction of the three newcomers. “Firstly, we have Princess Entrapta.” Entrapta looked up from her bit bop and gave a friendly wave before returning to her work.

“Adora.” Adora smiled awkwardly as the whole room looked at her. “And finally, but certainly not least, my husband, King Micah.”

“Good morning everyone.” Micah waved, looking much better and cleaner than Adora had ever seen him. “It’s good to be back.”

Angella smiled. “Now, can we please go around introducing ourselves to our new arrivals.”

Perfuma went first. “I’m Perfuma, it’s _great_ to meet you all.”

“My name is Bow.”

“Glimmer here.”

“Mermista.”

“Double Trouble, it’s a _pleasure_ to meet you.”

“I’m Netossa.” The Princess with black eyes, dark skin and fluffy silver hair said.

The one next to her with blue eyes and light pink skin that contrasted with her regular long lavender purple hair held in a ponytail said.

With all of the introductions out of the way the Queen spoke again. “Now, I know it may be hard, but… Honey, would you and Adora mind telling us about where exactly you’ve both been?”

Micah glanced at Adora who gave a quick thumbs up. “Of course.”

He took a deep breath. “As you know I went missing during the Battle of Old Babble, a lovely village for those of you that don’t know, and as I’m sure you guessed, I was captured by the Horde. Originally I was going to just be executed, but Shadow Weaver,” he grimaced as he said the name. “Persuaded Hordak to instead exile me to Beast Island where I’ve been for the last ten years.”

“Why would she do that?” the Queen asked.

Micah just shrugged. “Beats me, I stopped wondering what goes on in her head a _long_ time ago.” A dark look crossed his face but passed quickly. “Thankfully a few weeks ago I met Adora and we escaped.”

The room’s eyes turned to Adora, making her a tad uncomfortable. “I… I was exiled from the Horde a while ago, I don’t know for how long exactly-”

“A year,” Double Trouble interrupted. “They sent you away exactly one year and twenty seven days ago.”

“How do you-”

“Information is something I’m _very_ good at, darling,” they grinned.

“Well, a year then, I was exiled,” Adora said uncomfortably. “I spent most of my time on a beach, doing what I could to survive until I ran out of food, at which point I went further inland and encountered Micah. Together we created a makeshift raft and set off.”

“A small while after that, this charming fellow named Sea Hawk gave us a lift to Salineas where we fixed the Sea Gate and got the aid of Princess Mermista,” Micah took over. “From there she gave us transport which unfortunately fell apart near the kingdom of Dryl.”

Mermista frowned. “It did? Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine,” Adora told her. “After that we went into the kingdom just after it was taken over by an angry army of robots.”

Everyone looked to Entrapta to see if she wanted to say something, but the Princess of Dryl was too immersed in her bit bop.

“Anyway, we were there for about a week before Glimmer and her friends came to rescue us,” Micah said. “And that’s it.”

Adora, Glimmer and Double Trouble all glanced at each other.

“That’s not exactly true…” Adora trailed off, unsure of how to phrase what happened to her. “Is being a Princess contagious?”

The room looked at Adora like she was joking, but this was in fact a very genuine question.

“I don’t think so; why do you ask?” Netossa asked.

“When Double Trouble and I first encountered Adora she managed to activate the sword,” Glimmer explained. “And well, I’ll be right back. It’s better to show you.”

Glimmer teleported away and was back a minute later with the sword which she handed to Adora who stood up out of her seat.

“Adora, do the thing.”

She raised the sword above her head, took a deep calming breath and spoke.

“For the honour of Grayskull!”

There was a blinding flash of light and the same feelings of confidence and power rushed through Adora much like they did before, and just like before she was taller with a different outfit and long flowing locks of hair.

Looks of surprise and in some cases awe could be seen around the room. Even Entrapta stopped fiddling with her bit bop.

Surprisingly, it was Perfuma that spoke first.

“You’re She Ra,” she said in complete awe.

“Who’s She Ra?” Adora asked in return, hoping for some answers.

“A legendary warrior and hero of Etheria,” Micah explained after recovering from the surprise. “She’s been gone for centuries but now…”

“You’re back,” Glimmer finished for him. “You’re back and now you can help the rebellion defeat the Horde once and for all.”

Adora thought about it for a moment.

“No.”

“What do you mean no?” Perfuma asked. “You’re _She Ra_ , you _help_ people.”

Adora reverted back to her regular form. “I mean _no_.” She took a deep breath. “I mean you guys seem great and all but… I’m not going to fight the Horde.”

“Didn’t you say the Horde exiled you? Wouldn’t you want some kind of vengeance?” Double Trouble asked.

“I… uh, it’s… it’s complicated,” Adora said. “I have or at least had friends before I was exiled. It’s only really Hordak that’s responsible for me being exiled.” And Catra, but she didn’t dare mention her to them. “I don’t hate the Horde, I might not be able to go back, but that doesn’t mean that I want to fight them.”

An awkward silence ensued after Adora explained herself. Eventually the Queen herself broke it.

“Well, I can respect your decision. Those that wish to remain neutral are of course welcome here and as a thank-you for rescuing my husband, you are free to stay here for as long as you wish.”

“Thank you, your majesty,” Adora said, not looking anyone in the eye. “Would you mind terribly if I left early?”

“Of course not.”

Adora left the meeting room quickly, a strange feeling she couldn’t name present inside her. All she could say was that she didn’t like it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of that chapter.
> 
> Well, sorry that took a little longer than usual, but writers block overlapping with a small break for the holidays led to this taking longer than usual.
> 
> So happy 2021 everyone! And to all of my dedicated readers, I have a question for ya'll:
> 
> What are your thoughts on the adding of a romantic subplot?
> 
> I tried a romantic subplot in one of my previous fics, but looking back it was a tad disconnected from the main story and could have been handled better. But here I have ideas on how to integrate it into the main story in a compelling way. But of course, there is a catch. It would be rare pairs all around, because A) I am rare pairings trash and B) There is tones of amazing Catradora fics out there that I just can't compete with. 
> 
> Still, there will be more than a few moments alluding to Catradora so don't despair on that front, I'd just like some comments telling me your opinion on the adding on the subject of a romantic subplot. And for you non commenters: https://strawpoll.com/7dso3fycc 
> 
> If there is enough support, then next chapter will contain another poll relating to possible pairings.
> 
> As always thanks everyone for reading and extra thanks to those that comment/review, you're all groovy.
> 
> Next time there's a minor time skip of a few weeks as Adora settles into Brightmoon and Shadow Weaver puts a plan into motion. But till then, I'll catch ya'll on the flip flop.


	8. Plots And Plans

The following few weeks were strange to say the least.

While everyone said that they respected Adora’s decision to remain neutral, she was well aware of the disappointment everyone was feeling. Indeed, Glimmer annoyed Adora more than once with her not so subtle hints that the rebellion could use She Ra on their side.

As a result Adora had taken to hanging out with Bow. At least _his_ hints were subtle enough that they could be ignored.

On the topic of She Ra herself, Micah allowed Adora into the royal library to read up on the legendary warrior. What she’d found was lots of legend and very little concrete fact.

One of said facts was an interesting statistic.

Apparently out of all recorded She Ra’s only around 12% lived to old age and retired, 18% ‘heroically’ sacrificed themselves to save others and the remaining 70% died in combat.

Needless to say, Adora was a lot more wary of the sword than before.

Regardless of this, she also turned into She Ra a couple more times, testing out her strength and abilities. Needless to say she could use some work on it and owed the palace horses an apology.

But when she wasn’t hanging around with Bow, reading up on She Ra and other topics or exploring the castle, Adora liked to watch the sky and think.

In fact that’s what she was doing right now, watching the cloudy and raining sky from the safety of her own room.

You very rarely got these types of days on Beast Island or even the Fright Zone. But here in Brightmoon they seemed to be here every other day. They were good for thinking.

In fact, at the moment Adora was faced with a singular problem that could only really be solved by thinking.

What now?

When in the Horde, Adora’s goals had always been to defeat the rebellion to help the people, be the best soldier she could be, and keep Catra safe.

When on Beast Island, Adora’s goal was to stay alive until Catra came to the rescue and when that failed to appear it became to escape the island.

Now, in the relative safety of Brightmoon, Adora had no idea what to do next and it bothered her more than she’d care to admit.

“Think Adora, what do you want to do with your life?” she asked herself out loud, much like she’d do on Beast Island to break the silence.

“I’d recommend something exciting,” Double Trouble said suddenly, causing Adora to jump and turn to face them.

“How did you get in here!?” Adora shouted.

“Oh, the door was unlocked,” they dismissed her question with a wave of their hand.

“Why are you here? Is barging into peoples’ rooms just normal in the rebellion?” Adora asked confrontationally.

“Only with me, darling,” Double Trouble assured her before sitting down on her sofa in a way that could only be described as dramatic. “Now, as for why I’m here…” They grinned. “I’d like understand your character more.”

Adora’s mind took a few moments to process this. “My… character?”

“Yes, now lets go back to your original question, what do you want to do with your life?” Double Trouble asked rhetorically. “Now like I said before, I’d recommend something exciting. Like mercenary work, for example. As She Ra you could be potentially _amazing_ at it.”

Adora couldn’t stop a scowl from appearing on her face. “No thanks, I don’t think that’s for me.”

“Then what is?” Double Trouble seemed amused.

Adora opened her mouth to reply only to close it again. What was for her indeed?

Double Trouble sighed. “Right, let’s try something else. Tell me. When you were with the Horde, why did you fight for them?”

“To defeat the rebellion and help people I guess.” Adora purposefully left out Catra as a reason.

“And would you still want to help people?”

Adora caught on to what he was getting at. “Yeah, and I’m guessing that you’ve got an idea on that?”

“Of course I do,” they smirked. “You see, the rebellion’s always doing these humanitarian missions, no contact with the Horde, just helping out random villages with food and supplies.”

Adora thought about it, helping people… no real contact with the Horde…

“What’s the catch?” Adora asked.

“No catch,” Double Trouble claimed. “Just one tiny little favour, a question I want you to answer as honestly as you can in exchange for this opportunity I’ve made you aware of.”

“That sounds fair,” Adora said. “What’s the question?”

“What are your thoughts on She Ra?” Double Trouble asked. “Please, let me know everything.”

Adora hesitated, “Well… I suppose the whole thing’s a little frustrating, if I’m honest. Ever since I got here everyone’s been expecting me to be She Ra and help the rebellion, but that’s not something I’m ready to do.” Adora took a deep breath. “But being She Ra herself… it’s been nice.” She thought about the feelings of power and confidence She Ra gave her.

“I see. Thanks for the information,” Double Trouble said with what seemed to be sincerity.

“And thanks for the stuff about the humanitarian missions, I think I’ll talk to Micah about them,” Adora said.

“Anytime, darling.”

* * *

The past few weeks were some the best of Micah’s life.

He was back in Brightmoon, he’d reconnected with his family, discovered that Adora was in fact She Ra, and right now his sister was on her way to visit from Mystacor.

Currently he was in the gardens in the rain, getting ready to do something that he had planned to a long time ago…

A few moments passed and right on queue, Glimmer teleported into the room, looking a little nervous.

“Hey, dad. You wanted to meet me here?” Glimmer asked.

“I did. Micah smiled and passed Glimmer the hastily wrapped gift he’d gotten from Angie only a few hours prior. “Open it.”

Glimmer did as requested and tore open the packaging, her eyes going wide when she saw what was in it. “Is this…?”

“It is,” Micah confirmed. “My old staff. I think it’s about high time that I taught you a thing or two about magic.”

His daughter’s eyes were wide. “I… I can’t accept this… it’s your staff-”

Micah raised his hand to cut her off. “Yes, you can. I originally planned to do this for your thirteenth birthday, to give you my staff and teach you what I know about sorcery.”

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Glimmer rushed forward to hug him which he returned for a few moments before they let go.

Now, what should they start with? Micah pondered. He’d had many years of magical theory that he’d hated and were not really necessary for the learning of magic. In fact Light Spinner often just skipped theory when teaching and went straight to practical work.

Still that didn’t mean that theory was useless. Understanding theory often helped many sorcerers with the casting of spells.

But all the same he’d like to start with something practical first…

“Alright, I’ve got an idea on what to start with,” Micah said with a smile as the idea came to him, “I’m going to teach you how to create a _fireball_.”

Glimmer looked excited, but her expression quickly became a frown. “I don’t think that mom would like that idea.”

“I don’t think that she needs to know.” he grinned conspiratorially before he became more serious. “But before I actually teach you it, I’m going to tell you a little bit about magical theory and safety. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt after all.”

Glimmer nodded but couldn’t quite contain her excitement as she teleported around a few times before returning to where she was. “I’m ready to learn.”

“Magic is a natural force of the universe,” Micah started to lecture. “There are many kinds of magic on Etheria. Magically-gifted people like She-Ra and the Elemental Princesses such as you and Angie have an inherent connection to magic. However, others known as Sorcerers, study magic by drawing power from the magic in Etheria's environment and focusing it in by using spells.” Micah took a deep breath. “Both Castaspella and I fall into that category, although _some_ find it easier than others.”

“That makes sense,” Glimmer said. “But what about me?”

“As the daughter of another Princess and a sorcerer you’ve got access to both inherent magic from the runestone while also retaining the ability to cast spells like a regular sorcerer,” Micah explained. “Typically those with inherent magic, while powerful, are limited to their own powers.”

“So people like Princess Mermista…”

“Cannot go beyond the abilities granted to her by her runestone,” Micah told his daughter before he thought of the one exception. “Of course they could still in theory use _dark_ magic –” his expression hardened – “But anyone who tries that is a fool.”

“Dark magic is bad, got it.” Glimmer nodded. “But what exactly is the difference between dark magic and regular magic?”

Micah chuckled. Glimmer reminded him much of how he was when he first started learning. “A good question for another time. For now let’s just stick with the regular kind.”

“Sorry.”

Micah shook his head. “Don’t apologise, it is a good question. Now let’s get to the practical stuff. Hold out a hand, any will do, and keep your staff in the other.” Glimmer did as instructed. “Now close your eyes and think of the warmest thing you can.”

“Right, _warm_.” Glimmer closed her eyes and screwed her face up in concentration. “Got it.”

“Now with that warmth in mind, focus on the hand you’ve got outstretched,” he instructed. “And feel the energy flow just beneath the surface. And when you’re ready… _release_ it.”

Glimmer did as instructed and fire erupted from her hand, the flames enveloping it but not burning her, a neat side effect of it being magical fire. “Woah!”

Glimmer looked at the flames with wonder, but the wonder on her face that her hand was on fire, quickly turned to panic as she realised that her hand was on _fire_.

“What do I do?” Glimmer shouted as she waved the fiery hand around in panic.

“Don’t panic!” Micah shouted as he held both of his hands up calmingly.

“I’m not panicking!” Glimmer panicked, waving her flaming hand around frantically.

“To release the flames all you need to do is release the fire by throwing it away from yourself.” Micah explained.

“Throw it where?!”

“Anywhere! Just not-”

“Hey, Micah are you in here?” Adora entered the room suddenly, and a few things happened in rapid succession.

Firstly, Adora’s eyes widened at the sight of what looked like Glimmer on fire.

Then Glimmer followed his instructions and successfully threw the fire. Unfortunately this was at Adora, the appearance of the ex-Horde girl surprising Glimmer and providing an accidental target.

Fortunately for Adora’s sake she quickly unsheathed her sword and quickly said, “ForthehonorofGrayskull!”

Now the legendary warrior Princess, Adora swung her sword just in time to deflect the fireball.

…Directly into a three hundred year old tree that Micah _knew_ was his dear wife’s favourite.

The three of them watched at the fire quickly engulfed and burned the tree to a crisp in short order. Micah quickly threw a wind spell towards the blaze and blew it out.

“Sorry about that Adora,” Glimmer said, not taking her eyes of the husk of the tree.

“It’s fine.” Adora nodded somewhat absently. “Is… _was_ the tree important?” 

“Angella’s mother planted it before she died,” Micah told her, his mind trying to think of a spell to fix the damage. “It’s one of her favourite parts of the castle.”

“Oh,” Adora said awkwardly. “Maybe she won’t notice?”

Glimmer sighed. “Oh she’ll notice. Then she’ll kill us, jumpstart our hearts and kill us again.”

They descended into silence as they looked at the husk of the tree. Meanwhile, Micah’s mind betrayed him and no healing spells for plants came to mind.

“So… what were you guys doing before I interrupted?” Adora asked.

“I was teaching Glimmer some magic. Showing her how to make fire and telling her about the different types of magic…” Micah’s mind lit up with a brilliant idea. “And I’ve just thought of a way for you to help.”

Adora looked intrigued and nodded for him to continue.

“Well, in the legends She Ra has always been said to have healing powers, able to heal people and the environment.”

“And you think that I could use those powers to heal the tree before the Queen sees it,” Adora said understandingly.

“Exactly.”

“Yes, healing. That is a thing I know how to do,” Adora raised her sword towards the tree and looked at it intensely for a few moments, then a beam erupted from the sword, but rather than heal the tree, it instead torn a new hole into it, causing the tree to fall over on its side.

“I don't know what I'm doing,” Adora admitted as she lowered her sword. “I can't heal anything.”

Glimmer groaned. “Mom’s going to murder us dead.”

“The situation’s not unsalvageable. If you two help then I think that I can create a convincing illusion spell until such a point that we can heal it.” Micah clapped his hands together. “Alright then, let’s get to work.”

* * *

Catra had not been idle in the weeks following her return to the Fright Zone. She’d been sent away for a few more missions, mostly scouting and assaulting one more village, but most of the soldiers she’d worked with had all complained about just how _short_ her temper had been.

The Force Captain had snapped at everyone at least twice every mission, lots of the time over some remarkably small things.

There were a lot of bets on what exactly had Catra on the edge like this. The most popular theories ranged from trouble with Shadow Weaver (which was indeed a part of the problem) to some more bizarre ones like her being… _in the heat._

Catra heard all of these rumours and apart from discreetly placing her own bet in the pool via Lonnie, she did nothing.

Let them talk about her behind her back. They’ve done it for most of her life anyway; why should it stop now? Although if she overheard someone talking about how it _‘must be her time of the month’_ one more time…

Let’s just say that Catra knew a few places where she could hide a body or two.

The source of her frustration was that Shadow Weaver refused to let Catra go and get Adora. In fact, every time Catra tried to talk with Shadow Weaver about it, she was _literally_ thrown out of the room.

It was remarkably frustrating.

Right now Catra was at her favourite area in the Fright Zone, on the roof of a building overlooking the entire Fright Zone. She and Adora used to hang out here a lot before…

Still, it was nice to be here: somewhere that only she could go to be away from everyone else.

But a loud CLANG! interrupted her thoughts and drew her attention. A quick search revealed that the source was Scorpia attempting to climb up, the key word here being _attempting_.

“Scorpia! What the hell are you doing?” Catra yelled down.

Scorpia looked up from where she was precariously balanced on some pipes. “Oh, hey Catra, I was just-” One the pipes gave away and Scorpia was forced to grab onto some loose wires to stay where she was, one of her feet now dangling in the air. “I was just on my way to see you. Kyle said that you’d be up here, although at the time I didn’t realise exactly how far up it was.”

“Stay still,” Catra commanded. “I’m coming down to help you up.”

She didn’t hear Scorpia’s response as Catra climbed down the various pipes and wires with her natural skill and agility. Scorpia had naturally chosen the worst possible section for someone as big as her to try and climb. Still, it wasn’t _impossible_ to salvage it.

“Alright, put your right foot on that pipe there,” Catra commanded.

“Right foot to pipe,” Scorpia repeated as she did so.

“Now let go of those wires in your left pincer and instead try and hold onto that smaller pipe there.”

Scorpia did as instructed and Catra inspected the rest of the pipes.

“What’s next then?” Scorpia called over.

“Next –” Catra climbed back down to Scorpia’s level – “Next you’ll be climbing up as fast as you can. Stop once and you’ll fall.”

“Climb,” Scorpia repeated, looking faint as she did so. “But what if I accidentally miss a pipe?”

“Then you fall and die a blob of paste on the cold, cold ground,” Catra said shortly. “Now hurry up and get to it. I’ll be waiting at the top.”

With that Catra returned to the roof to await either Scorpia’s screams as she fell to her violent demise or for the Force Captain to join her on the roof.

A few moments later and the latter scenario happened as Scorpia pulled herself up onto the rooftop, although Catra made no move to help her and instead returned to the spot she was previously at.

“Thanks Wildcat,” Scorpia wheezed as she collapsed onto her back. “I haven’t climbed anything like that since basic.”

“What exactly are you doing up here?” Catra asked sharply.

“Looking for you,” Scorpia told her. “Shadow Weaver’s looking for you.”

Catra snorted. _Now_ Shadow Weaver wanted to talk. Right as Catra was trying to relax properly. Just typical. The part of her that ran purely on spite wanted to stay up here for a while longer just to spite the bitch, but then the other part of her argued back that this might have something to do with Adora so she should probably check it out.

“Fine. I’ll see Shadow Weaver soon. You can go now.”

But Scorpia did not leave. Instead she went over and sat next to Catra at the spot overlooking the Fright Zone.

Scorpia whistled. “This is quite a view.”

“Yep.” Catra popped the ‘p’.

“Is… is something wrong Wildcat?” Scorpia asked, sounding concerned.

“Why do you care?”

“Well, we are friends-” Scorpia was cut off by Catra giving a sudden harsh laugh.

“We are _not_ friends,” Catra said.

“Not yet, but we will be,” Scorpia said with all the confidence in the world.

Catra laughed again. “Good luck with that.” She then pushed herself to her feet. “Come on, let’s go and see what she wants then.”

* * *

Shadow Weaver had been remarkably busy these past few weeks. On top of her usual business running the day to day of the Horde, she’d also been very busy gathering information about Adora.

Her Shadow Spies had managed to infiltrate Brightmoon just last week after carefully creating a hole in the kingdom’s magical defences. Fortunately no one seemed to have noticed it yet and as such her spies were able to observe Adora and the rebellion without too much restriction.

What she’d found had been more than her wildest hopes.

Adora had decided to remain neutral in the war.

Not only that but Adora was also She Ra, an entirely unexpected twist that had gave Shadow Weaver an idea.

And that idea blossomed into a theory and then into a plan.

If she played her cards right then Adora could become the most powerful person on Etheria, one that would be completely loyal to Shadow Weaver.

But first things first, she needed more information to get the ball rolling, so to speak.

“So I can’t use regular sorcery?” Adora asked Micah, to which Shadow Weaver’s former student nodded.

Currently Shadow Weaver was using her Shadow Spies as a camera, giving her a clear image and audio of the situation from the comfort of her Black Garnet chamber.

“Yes. you’re currently limited to the powers of She Ra herself, although what exactly those powers are… well, there are legends,” Micah explained.

“Oh! That reminds me of why I’m here.” Adora seemed to remember something. “I actually came here to see if I could volunteer for some humanitarian missions.”

Ah yes, Shadow Weaver could remember the conversation between the mercenary and Adora, an unexpected twist with the mercenaries motives being a mystery to her, but they fit in with Shadow Weaver’s current plan.

“Does that mean you’re finally joining the rebellion?” Glimmer, Princess of Brightmoon and Micah’s daughter, asked.

A glorious scowl appeared on Adora’s face. “No. I just want to get out of the castle for a bit and help some people.”

_That_ was the Adora she knew, always trying to help people even if they didn’t deserve it, such as Catra.

“A very noble goal.” Micah stepped in between the two girls. “And your help is more than welcome. There are always villages that need aid after all. I’ll consult Angie once we’re done here about the next humanitarian mission.”

“Thank you.” Adora nodded.

Then a strange look crossed Glimmer’s face. “Hey Adora, have you checked your mail recently?”

“I have mail?” Adora looked surprised.

Glimmer grinned mischievously. “Yep, wait here and I’ll see if there’s any waiting for you.”

The Princess of Brightmoon was gone for only a moment. When she returned it was with three letters held triumphantly in her hand. “I knew it.”

Adora took the letters from her hand and opened the first one, scanning it. “This one’s from Mermista. She wants to hang out.”

Adora opened the next one and read it, several times in fact. “This is from Entrapta… she’s coming over till the end of the week and she wants to run experiments on She Ra… I think, it’s pretty unclear and I don’t know what half of the words mean.”

Now Adora opened the final letter. “This is from… the kingdom of Snows and it’s… an invitation to the All Princess Ball, Winter Wonderland. What does that mean?”

“It means you’re invited to the Princess Prom. It’s a meeting for all the princesses of Etheria.” Micah explained.

“And a giant party!” Glimmer enthused. “Dancing, food, fancy dresses.”

“Dancing?” Adora repeated, although neither Micah nor Glimmer heard her.

“It only happens once a decade. I've been waiting years for this!” Glimmer yelled in excitement.

“I can still remember my first time going with Angella all those years ago,” Micah sighed dreamily. “It was a night to remember.”

“Uh, I'm only a princess sometimes, so are you sure I should even go?” Adora asked.

Glimmer nodded “Of course! Every princess is invited, so that includes you!”

“It should all be in the invite,” Micah said.

Adora read the invite aloud. “Rules for greeting the hostess. Expected curtsy depth? Proper stair descending etiquette?”

“Don’t worry, I was the same when I first read about it.” Micah put a hand on Adora’s shoulder reassuringly. “I’ll help you with that part, if you want to go.”

“I guess it could be fun…”

Glimmer grinned. “Of course it will be. What could go wrong?”

Of course Glimmer was not the only one grinning, Shadow Weaver was also grinning behind her mask as she waved her hand to dispel the image and its audio.

How _remarkable_ for this perfect opportunity to fall into her lap like this.

It was at that point that the doors to her chamber opened and Catra entered, Scorpia right behind her.

“You wanted to see me, Shadow Weaver?”

“You’re late,” she remarked dryly. “That sort of behaviour is unacceptable in a Force Captain.”

Catra muttered something, undoubtedly some crude insult, and scowled. “I was delayed.”

“In any event, it’s time to act, for you to rescue Adora,” Shadow Weaver said. “A week from now the Princess Ball will happen in the kingdom of Snows. Youre objective will be to infiltrate the event and bring Adora back home.”

Scorpia’s eyes widened as she pulled out her invitation to the Ball and read it. “This year's theme is Winter Wonderland.”

“How did you get this?” Catra demanded.

“They sent it to me. I'm a princess,” Scorpia said like it was common knowledge, which it was.

“You're a princess!?” Catra repeated.

Scorpia nodded. “Yeah. The Horde crash-landed in my family's kingdom. We let them stay. My family gave Hordak the Black Garnet.”

“You're a princess?” Catra repeated for a second time. It was getting quite tiresome.

Scorpia shrugged. “I thought everyone knew. I mean, it's covered in Force Captain Orientation.”

“I'm beginning to think I should have paid more attention in that,” Catra sighed. “Okay, so you're a princess, and you're going to a princess ball.”

“Oh no. I'm not going.” Scorpia shook her head. “No. No one liked my family, even before we joined The Horde. I never really fit with the other princesses. I made them uncomfortable and they don't like that. They don't like me.”

Catra looked like she was about to say something, but Shadow Weaver beat her to the punch.

“But you will be going with Catra as her plus one, and the pair of you will bring Adora home by any means necessary,” Shadow Weaver commanded.

Catra nodded. “Right, I’ll go and get the rest of my squad and we can-”

“No,” Shadow Weaver cut her off. “This operation is strictly off the books. Hordak can _never_ find out about Adora.”

That much was necessary if Shadow Weaver’s plan was to work.

“As far as everyone else is concerned, you will be on a scouting mission, understood?”

“Whatever.”

“Yes ma’am!”

Satisfied with the responses, Shadow Weaver smiled underneath her mask. “Good, now let’s go over the details…”

* * *

Unbeknownst to Shadow Weaver, her conversation with the two Force Captains was not private, nor had her time spying on Brightmoon gone unnoticed.

In the vents above the Black Garnet chamber, an Imp listened to the conversation, absorbing every detail.

Once the talk was over, it scurried away.

It's master would be _very_ interested in this...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of that chapter.
> 
> Things are moving forward in the plot now! Of course we're trucking onwards to the always groovy Princess Prom, a part of the story that I'm very happy to be writing about soon.
> 
> And votes are in, there will be a romantic subplot. As for the pairings... well like I said before they'll all be rare, but the question is how rare? The first of the two 'main' pairings will be Catra/Scorpia, a ship that is very dear to me and what I initially shipped during my first ever time viewing the show.
> 
> The second main pairing will involved Adora, but I've got a dilemma here. On one half I'm tempted to ship Glimmadora, a rare pair I shipped in my first watch through of the show that still has a decent following. On the other I'm tempted to go for a truly rare pair and ship Adora/Entrapta as I can easily see a good dynamic developing between them.
> 
> I'll have come to a proper decision by next chapter, but until then please feel free to leave your thoughts on the subject.
> 
> As always I'd like to thank Yours Truly Jezebel for Beta-ing this chapter, their work is what helps keep this story as good as it is.
> 
> As always thanks for reading with extra thanks to those that comment/review, your all groovy smoothies.
> 
> Next time everyone prepares for the Princess Prom and Castaspella makes an appearance. But till then I'll catch ya'll on the flip flop.


	9. Prom Prep

If Adora heard one more thing about etiquette by the end of a day then she was fairly certain that her fragile grasp on her sanity would finally disintegrate.

Alright, that might be a minor exaggeration, but learning this junk _sucked._

But unfortunately with the Princess prom being tomorrow, she needed to at least be vaguely aware of this stuff so that she wasn’t thrown out of the ‘party’. They still hadn’t explained to her what exactly a party was but Bow assured Adora that she would love it.

But until then Adora was stuck reading a book about etiquette that Micah claimed was ‘very gripping’ and ‘explained everything in a concise and easy to understand manner’. Unfortunately he had failed to take into account both a different taste in literature and that they had very different educations.

Many of the words in the book were lost on Adora. Teaching cadets what a ‘Tango’ wasn’t exactly a priority for the Horde. Wasn’t tango just another word for bad guy? But the context clearly indicated otherwise. Needless to say, Adora was confused and ready to throw the book away in frustration.

Wait, you know what? Throwing the book away sounded like a _great_ idea.

Adora threw the book into the garden bushes (she was currently in one of the more isolated of Brightmoon’s many, _many_ gardens), and to Adora’s surprise she hit something, or rather _someone_.

“Ow!”

From the bushes Entrapta emerged, covered in dirt and rubbing her head.

Adora immediately went to her feet and helped her out of the bushes. “Entrapta, are you alright?

“Fine, fine.” Entrapta said as she rubbed her head where the book had hit her.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t know you were in there,” Adora said.

“It’s alright,” Entrapta said with her usual cheer as she held up a jar of dirt. “I got my samples.”

“Why do you need a jar of dirt?” Adora asked.

“Well I’ve got this theory about the effect of magic on local vegetation,” Entrapta explained. “But I need some samples of highly magical areas in order to prove it.”

Adora was intrigued. “Well, what’s your theory?”

“Your asking me about my theories?” Entrapta’s eyes went wide. “No one ever asks about my theories!” She seemed to be excited about the prospect.

Adora smiled nervously. “So… the theory?”

“Well I’m fairly certain that magic, runestones specifically, effect the way specific plants grow,” Entrapta explained before pulling out the bit bop Adora had seen her working on at the meeting a few weeks ago. “Let’s see… yes, this soil has _lots_ of magical energy.”

“Neat.”

“ _Very_ ,” Entrapta agreed. “Of course I’ll need lots more samples to verify the theory.”

“Naturally.” Adora agreed. “A sc _ience_ -tist needs to have lots of dat- _a_ to draw conclusions from.”

“Exactly!” Entrapta nodded her head enthusiastically.

The scientist then went back to the bush and extracted the etiquette book. “So why did you throw this?”

“Oh well… I may have been having a little trouble with it.” Adora’s face went slightly red in embarrassment.

Entrapta skimmed through the book. “Oh, it’s about the prom tomorrow.” Entrapta frowned. “That’s a lot of rules.”

“You’re telling me. I’ve got to learn them for tomorrow so I don’t look like an idiot in front of everyone.” Adora sighed. “It’s hopeless.”

“There, there.” Entrapta patted Adora on the back awkwardly. “I’m sure that everything will be alright.”

“What makes you say that?” Adora couldn’t help but ask.

“Well for one I never read this book before now and know nothing about etiquette but I’m still going,” Entrapta said.

“You haven’t?”

“Nope! I mean I tried to read about it once but then I spotted this really interesting rock formation and my mind just kinda wandered.”

“And you’re just going anyway?”

“Of course, how else will I be able to observe the social experiment?” Entrapta asked rhetorically which gave Adora a question of her own.

“Social experiment? Don’t you mean the par-ty?”

“No, _social experiment_ ,” Entrapta emphasised. “Different groups are forced to mingle. Hierarchies form and break. It's the perfect place to observe behaviour.”

“That’s a unique way of looking at it,” Adora said.

“Thanks, and speaking of experiments…”

* * *

It was with great restraint that Shadow Weaver refrained from smiting the irritable clerk that was currently manning the Horde’s supply depot.

The clerk was a remarkably drab thing, barely out of her teens and about as unremarkable as someone could be. Her only notable feature was a pair of glasses that only served to complete the permanently bored expression on her face.

It would be so remarkably easy as well, and as the second in command it would be a trivial matter to cover it up…

But she was no savage brute, so Shadow Weaver was willing to let the wheels of bureaucracy turn in order to get what she needed. It was possible to do without it, but things would be _so_ much easier with it.

The clerk cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Shadow Weaver, Ma’am? There’s a _problem_ with the item you’ve requested.”

Shadow Weaver continued to exercise remarkable restraint. “A problem?”

“I’m afraid that the item you’ve requested has already been checked out,” the Clerk said.

“By who?” Shadow Weaver asked, tone almost venomous.

“Shadow Weaver.”

Her blood ran cold as she turned to greet the owner of the voice with a low bow.

“Lord Hordak,” Shadow Weaver hurried to hide the surprise in her voice. “What an unexpected honour.”

“I imagine that it must be,” Lord Hordak said. “I was just returning this _delightful_ book.”

Her mind was racing, as he held up precisely the book that Shadow Weaver herself was seeking.

“I trust that you found it _educational,_ ” Shadow Weaver said carefully. There was no telling just how much Hordak knew. It was possible that this was just a coincidence.

“It was definitely instructive,” Lord Hordak agreed. “I’m sure that the knowledge it imparted with be most useful in future.”

This was no coincidence. He _knew_.

“Of course, Lord Hordak,” Shadow Weaver said as he placed the book on the clerk’s counter. “Is there anything else you wished to discuss?”

“Not at the moment.” Hordak turned to leave and made it to the doorway before he stopped. “I’d like a report on your plan for extracting She Ra by the end of the evening.”

Hordak left and Shadow Weaver was left fuming behind her mask. How could he possibly know? She had taken every precaution against him finding out, the plan would have to change very soon.

With complete indifference to Shadow Weaver’s mood and the fact that the Lord Hordak himself had just been here, the Clerk just held out the book.

“Your request is now ready for you to pick up,” the clerk stated the obvious.

Shadow Weaver just snatched the book from her grasp and stormed out. Hordak might know about her plans for extracting Adora, but he couldn’t possibly guess the full extent of Shadow Weaver’s plans.

She paused for a moment to read the title of the book which had been taken from a captured rebel town a few months ago.

 _‘The definitive history of She Ra’_ by George and Lance Artfactia, official historians.

If this book contained the information that she thought it did, then everything was going to fall into place very quickly…

* * *

“Alright, do you think that we can add more weight now?” Entrapta called down after writing the latest results in her notebook.

“Go for it!” the slightly strained voice of Adora called up to her.

Entrapta used her hair to pick up the next bench and set it on top of the ever growing pile, before jotting down the estimated added weight.

Currently she and Adora were testing out the strength of She Ra, using the very scientific method of having her lift whatever random objects they could find. Currently she was lifting a bench, a large rock, a stack of books, a clock, two additional benches and Entrapta herself at the top of the entire thing.

Come to think of it, all of the items were stacked rather precariously and looked like they could collapse at any moment…

Entrapta considered stopping the experiment right there but decided against it. It would be more interesting to see how many items they _could_ stack before everything collapsed.

“Hey Entrapta, would you mind if I asked you a question?” Adora called up.

“Sure thing,” Entrapta replied. “I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.”

“Great, so umm… who are you taking to the prom?” Adora asked.

“No one. Why, is that a requirement?” Entrapta asked back. This was the first she was hearing of this. Maybe it was part of the social experiment? It would explain why so many people in her parent’s old books always went to parties together.

“I think so, the invite said that we could bring a plus one to go with,” Adora said. “And everyone else I know is going with someone; Bow and Perfuma, Mermista and Sea Hawk, even Glimmer’s bringing Double Trouble but I’m not sure if that counts because the queen’s making Glimmer do it.”

Such a high amount of people taking others with them clearly showed that it was an important social event and it certainly matched what was talked about in her parents old novels, although most of them were on ‘dates’ even if they neglected to give a definition.

And of course being raised by robots after having your parents die at an incredibly young age didn’t help matters.

“I’m guessing that you don’t have someone to go with either,” Entrapta said as an idea popped into her head.

“No… I uh, don’t really have many friends,” Adora admitted.

“That’s great!” Entrapta said cheerfully. “I don’t have any either. That means we can go together.”

Adora shifted the mass of objects gently and moved them down to the ground. Entrapta used her hair to climb down next to her.

Adora reverted back to her regular form. “You mean we can go together as friends?”

“Yep! It’ll be a date.”

“Date? Like on a calendar?”

“I’ve got no idea, it’s just a term that keeps popping up in these novels I’ve read,” Entrapta explained. Unfortunately none of her scientific dictionaries made mention of it either. “Maybe we can find it out together.”

Adora smiled. “That doesn’t sound too bad at all.”

* * *

“Smile!” Micah yelled as he took the group photo.

The assembled princesses and friends smiled for the photo, ranging from incredibly happy (Glimmer) to somewhat hesitant (Adora) to not smiling at all (Mermista).

It was times like this that Micah was proud to be a father, seeing his daughter about to embark on what would no doubt be a magical evening much like Micah had when he was her age. He took the photo and showed it to Angie.

“Yes, that will do,” she nodded her head before laying down the law. “Now I want you all to be on your best behaviour, you will all be representing the Princess Alliance at this engagement and it would not do well to alienate the kingdom of Snows.”

There was a round of assurances from the assembled Princesses and others while Glimmer stepped forward. “We’ll be _fine_ , stop worrying.”

Micah couldn’t help but chuckle. He’d said something similar back then as well.

“We’re your parents, it’s our job to worry.” Micah repeated the words his father once said to him. “But I know you’ll be fine. Go and have fun; tonight might well be the best night of your life.”

Angie smiled. “Yes, have fun and we’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Don’t worry, we will,” Double Trouble said with a grin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of that chapter.
> 
> Well it's just a short chapter this time, and yes it's outside the normal schedule but there is a reason for it. The next chapter will not be out this Sunday or maybe not even the Sunday after that because then next chapter is looking to be a really beefy on that I estimate will be double the usual length.
> 
> As always I'd like to thank Yours Truly Jezebel for once again Beta-ing this chapter.
> 
> And as always I'd like to thank everyone for reading with extra thanks to those that comment/review, ya'll are groovy.
> 
> Next time it's the Princess prom in it's entirety, there'll be laughter, romance, tiny food and of course, the Princess Alliance has no idea that Catra and Scorpia will be on the scene with an agenda of their own... but till then, I'll catch Ya'll on the flip flop.


	10. A Night To Remember

Adora had few ideas about what to expect when entering the prom, but this wasn’t close to any of them.

The room was _massive_ and there were people everywhere, all of them mingling, dancing and eating food that was smaller than Adora thought it would be.

In short, it was _amazing._

“Is this what all parties are like?” she asked Bow, who nodded.

“Mostly, although there’s lots of differences depending on the type of party,” Bow explained as they all walked towards their host for this evening. “You’ve got birthdays, festivals, Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day and more.”

That was a _lot_ of parties; how did the rebellion get anything done?

“Come on, we need to greet Frosta first, she should be over here.” Glimmer led the group to the throne where a literal child was sitting in one of those puffy winter coats.

“That's Frosta?” Adora asked before she could stop herself. “But she's like, 10!”

“I'm eleven and three quarters.” Frosta’s tone was as cold as her name implied.

Glimmer quickly tried to sooth the situation over. “Revered hostess, we come under the ancient rules of hospitality, bringing greetings from Bright Moon. And She-Ra –” Glimmer gestured towards Adora – “the legendary warrior.”

“You are welcome under the ancient rules of hospitality,” Frosta said formally. “Leave conflict at the door and please enjoy the ball.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Adora said awkwardly. Couldn't someone have mentioned that she was a little kid?

“Sorry about that,” Adora half mumbled to Glimmer as they walked away from the throne to join the party proper.

“It’s fine, I’ve got the rest of the night to win her over,” Glimmer replied. “Now let’s rock this party!”

At that proclamation the various couples broke off to their various activities. Bow and Perfuma went off to chat while Glimmer glared at them from a distance, Mermista went off to eat some party food while Sea Hawk trailed behind her and Double Trouble was nowhere in sight, presumably doing Double Trouble things.

This just left Adora and her date for the evening.

“So… what exactly do we do?” Adora asked, twiddling her thumbs.

“I have absolutely no idea,” Entrapta said with her typical upbeat attitude. “It’s the first time I’ve been to a proper social experiment like this.” She looked around like a child in the training room. “There’s so much _data_ that I could collect, all of these different cultures, species and people interacting…”

Adora nodded and decided to go with the first idea that came to mind. “Right, well … how about we get some food first then?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

The duet went to one of the many buffets and picked out plates, but Adora was unsure about what to pick so she ended up collecting a bit of everything, filling her plate rapidly. They then sat down at the nearest empty table and were joined by Mermista and She Hawk after they filled their own plates.

Adora tried to start a conversation as she picked at her food with cutlery. “So, Sea Hawk's your plus one?”

“No. He is just my ride. Just. My. Ride,” Mermista emphasised.

Sea Hawk laughed.

“Of course,” before he leaned in conspiratorially and whispered. “I am her plus one.” He then leaned backwards into his chair. “But it’s been some weeks since I _heroically_ pulled you and Micah from the sea, tell me how’ve you been?”

“Fine,” Adora said before trying to eat some of the food on her plate. Then through a full mouth she asked, “How’ve you been?”

Of course the mouth full of food made it sound more like “M’hw you- bmhn?” Fortunately Sea Hawk seemed to get the gist of the question.

“I’ve been on several daring adventures, sailing the seas and fighting only the most fearsome of monsters,” Sea Hawk boasted.

“Oh, _please_.” Mermista just snorted.

Sea Hawk ignored Mermista entirely.

“Meaning that you got drunk and fell asleep on a Horde ship that _I_ had to rescue you from,” Mermista deadpanned.

“I wouldn’t put it _quite_ like that,” Sea Hawk protested.

“You managed to infiltrate a Horde ship while _drunk_?” Adora asked disbelievingly.

Sea Hawk nodded enthusiastically, “Exactly! In spite of being intoxicated I went on a daring raid and got out without so much as a scratch due to my dear Mermista here.”

Adora couldn’t think of a decent reply so she just nodded and continued to eat her plate of small food. Beside her Entrapta had already finished her plate and had pulled out a tape recorder.

“Social experiment log one, after arriving at the Princess Prom I have made several observations. Firstly many of the people have decided to form smaller groups to make chit chat in, this seems to be indicative of social trends, but whether or not this is unique to the setting will need further study.”

Entrapta paused to eat a small cupcake before continuing on. “Many people have taken to the centre of the room and seemed to be flailing their arms and bodies around in what I believe is called ‘dancing’. I think it looks neat.” Entrapta then held up another small cupcake. “Thirdly, the food here is _delicious_.”

Adora had to agree at that point. The food was very tasty; in fact it was better than anything in the Fright Zone.

“-And Fourthly after approximately thirty minutes Glimmer still seems to be angry at Bow for coming with Perfuma, I will update this log about the situation as the night progresses.” Entrapta finished speaking into her recorder and looked around the table brightly. “What’s next?”

“You should just do whatever.” Mermista shrugged. “It’s a party after all.”

“Indeed. Why, I think I might go for a little bit of _liquid courage_ right about now. The night is still young after all,” Sea Hawk said, causing Mermista to roll her eyes.

“Fine, just make sure that you’ll be sober enough to take us back home tomorrow.”

Since he had Mermista’s approval Sea Hawk went off. The second he did so Adora leaned towards Mermista and whisper-asked, “What’s liquid courage?”

“Booze, you know alcohol?”

Ahh _, contraband,_ makes sense that the rebellion would be less strict with that sort of thing.

With Sea Hawk gone the conversation faded away swiftly, leaving the three Princesses in silence. But Adora _hated_ silence, so she decided to start a new conversation.

“So… Entrapta… are uh, enjoying your food?”

“Oh yes, it’s truthfully _very_ tasty,” Entrapta said enthusiastically.

“Speaking of, not that I care or anything, why do you like tiny food so much?” Mermista asked curiously.

Entrapta shrugged, “I just think it’s neat.”

On that, she and Adora were in agreement.

* * *

It was at this point that Catra entered the Prom. She wore a red suit that had been looted from a rebel village a few months back.

Scorpia walked in side by side with her, dressed in a lovely black dress. 

After exchanging a few pleasantries with the host of the party, they set up shop by the punch bowl on the upper floor, which offered a great view of both the party and Adora herself.

It was weird seeing Adora again even from this distance and a full year apart. She looked almost exactly how Catra remembered her. Sure, her checks were a little gaunt and the area underneath her eyes was a little darker, but she was still _Adora._

“Is that her?” Scorpia asked to which Catra nodded. “Huh, she looks a little different than I thought she would.”

“What were you expecting?”

“I dunno, maybe someone a little paler and less healthy.” Scorpia shrugged. “But she actually looks kinda healthy. Maybe Beast Island isn’t as bad as the stories say.”

“Maybe,” Catra said absently before she got an idea. “You’re definitely a Princess, right?”

“Last time I checked.”

“Good. You see the people next to Adora there? Wait until they separate from her and chat them up. Find out everything you can about what Adora’s been up to.”

“Right, but they’re rebels and I’m with the Horde, I don’t think they’ll be talking to me,” Scorpia pointed out.

Catra just rolled her eyes, “Yeah but they’ve never met you before. As far as they know you’re just a regular non-Horde Princess, you’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, but-”

“Just _go_ ,” Catra ordered her and reluctantly Scorpia went away, leaving Catra alone to observe her friend.

Scorpia was right earlier when she said that Adora looked healthy. Her old friend genuinely looked to be in better shape than the last time Catra had seen her, beaten, battered and being forced into exile.

In fact, Catra would dare say that Adora looked happy.

As if to further the point Adora laughed at something, perhaps a joke or a funny story. Whatever the case it put Adora into stiches.

“Enjoying the party?”

Catra turned around to see a green, lizard-like creature. They kind of reminded Catra of Rogelio, even if there were clear differences between the two.

“Who the hell are you?” Catra asked bluntly.

“The name’s Double Trouble, honey.” They grinned. “Don’t need to ask for yours, _Catra_.”

Catra gave them her full attention. “I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t bother with that whole song and dance, you match the descriptions Adora gave perfectly,” Double trouble claimed.

“Adora’s talked about me?”

“You match the descriptions Adora’s _diary_ gave perfectly,” they amended their original statement.

Something told Catra that Adora didn’t exactly give Double Trouble permission to do so.

“Does her _diary_ say anything else about me then?”

“Lots of things.” Their intentional vagueness irritated Catra.

“ _Such as_?” Catra pressed through gritted teeth.

Double trouble shrugged. “How am I supposed to know? I was only able to read the first few pages, mostly descriptions and other boring stuff. After that Adora came back into her room and I had to get out before she spotted me.”

“Then why-”

“Why start talking to you if I’ve got no idea who you were to Adora?” Double Trouble finished for her. “Curiosity I suppose. You were the first person she described after all, so obviously you were important to her.”

“Of course I was,” Catra said indignantly. But she didn’t volunteer any more information. She wasn’t an idiot after all.

Double Trouble hummed neutrally. “Interesting. Well, when you bring Adora back to the Fright Zone don’t be surprised when the rebellion comes knocking; they’re very persistent like that.”

“Aren’t you with the rebellion?” Catra asked pointedly, ignoring how easily they’d guessed her purpose here.

“I’m just the hired help here to protect Sparkles over there,” Double Trouble gestured to a glittery Princess across the room. “I couldn’t care less about what happens to blondie.”

“That _‘blondie’_ happens to be my best friend, so show a little respect,” Catra hissed.

“Interesting.” Double Trouble chuckled. “Enjoy the party.”

With that they walked away and Catra was left fuming.

* * *

Adora’s sides hurt from laughing this much but she didn’t much care. Mermista’s stories were just _that_ funny.

“He really tried that?” Adora just had to ask, because not even _Sea Hawk_ could be that tactless.

“He did.” Mermista nodded with a smirk. “Went right up to the guy and claimed that the ship he burnt down wasn’t the guy’s but instead a completely identical one.”

“Did the guy believe it?”

“Nope, knocked out Sea Hawk in one punch and I knocked him out in two,” Mermista boasted.

At the moment it was just Mermista and Adora at the table. Sea Hawk had been sent away by Mermista to get some fresh air and Entrapta…

Actually, where was Entrapta?

“Hey, Mermista do you have any idea where Entrapta’s gone off too?” Adora asked.

Mermista frowned. “Huh, I didn’t even see her leave.”

“I’d better go find her,” Adora declared as she stood up from her seat. “It was great catching up with you.”

“Yeah, and not that I care or anything, but feel free to stop by the palace next time you’re in Salineas.” Mermista waved goodbye and Adora set off into the crowd.

Now where would Entrapta go? Well, Adora had no clue, this was her first time in a party after all, still Entrapta was fairly distinctive with her hair and overalls. All she had to do was keep an eye out and hopefully Entrapta would turn up.

She also kept an eye out for a few familiar faces that could tell Adora where her date for the night had went. And boy, was the party bigger than she initially thought. You could probably fit twenty of the Horde’s bigger training rooms in here and have room to spare.

A few minute later and while Adora couldn’t spot Entrapta yet, she did spot someone who could help. Glimmer was standing at a balcony on the first floor overlooking the ground. She looked slightly miserable and was still watching Bow and Perfuma from a distance.

Adora quickly made her way up to the Princess of Brightmoon and took a place beside her.

“Hi Glimmer,” Adora said.

“Hi Adora,” Glimmer said back and gave a sigh.

“Are you alright?” Adora asked, concern for Glimmer overtaking the plan to find Entrapta for the moment.

“Fine. I’m having a great time watching stupid Bow and stupid Perfuma have stupid fun,” Glimmer paused for a second. “Stupidly.”

Adora considered this response for a second, “Does the idea of Bow hanging out with Perfuma bother you this much?”

“It doesn't!” Glimmer claimed as she looked away from Bow for the first time to focus on Adora exclusively. “Bow can hang out with whoever he wants. I just…” Glimmer groaned. “I never had that many friends. It's always been just me and Bow. But now, what if he likes his new friends better? What if everyone does?”

With Glimmer’s concerns aired out, Adora gave Glimmer a reassuring pat on the back. “Hey, I might be kinda new to this and not really an expert, but I don’t think it’ll work out like that. You guys seem close and are clearly good friends. Bow isn't the type to leave his old friends behind.”

“But what if-”

“Every second spent on ‘what ifs’ is a second that’s wasted on what is.” Adora quoted something that Shadow Weaver had told her years earlier. “Just go and talk to him and I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Glimmer nodded slowly. “You’re right. I _should_ talk with him.”

“Great, but before you go, have you seen Entrapta anywhere?” Adora asked just before Glimmer could teleport away to Bow.

“I think she was headed towards the dance floor, last I saw her.”

“Thanks!” Adora said as Glimmer teleported away, but as she did so it occurred to Adora that she probably should have asked where the dance floor was and what exactly _was_ dancing anyway?

Ah well, she’d figure it out.

With a quick guess she decided to start on the ground floor and returned there, moving from area to area to try and spot dancing people. As she did so, Adora thought she spotted Catra by the punch bowl, but she dismissed it immediately. Catra was probably somewhere in the Fright Zone right now, enjoying her life after forgetting Adora. Well good for her, just so long as Adora never got to see her again.

If she did then Adora would probably end up punching Catra right in the face.

But that was neither here nor there. Right now she was trying to find Entrapta, not fantasising about punching Catra.

Fortunately for Adora she found Entrapta shortly after, the scientist overlooking over a crowd of people whose limbs were flailing around and feet moving around in a way that kept them in one place. Loud music was playing and everyone looked to be enjoying themselves.

Was this what dancing was? If so, then Micah had explained it poorly earlier.

“Hey Entrapta,” Adora greeted as she stopped next to her.

“-But of course it would be less effective than even a simple jog,” Entrapta finished her log. “Hi Adora!”

“Hi, so this is where you went to then,” Adora observed.

“Yeah, you seemed like you were having fun listening to Mermista’s stories so I went off exploring,” Entrapta explained. “Did you know that they have a _sushi_ bar?”

“What’s a sushi?”

“Little pieces of raw fish,” Entrapta explained. “It’s very tasty.”

That sounded like something that Catra would like.

“Anyway, what do you want to do next?” Adora changed the topic. “The night’s still young after all.”

“Hmmm well… would you like to hear some more of my theories? I’ve got _thousands_ of them.”

Adora smiled, “That sounds good to me, I might even learn something.”

“Great!” Entrapta smiled back. “Now as you know…”

* * *

Sea Hawk stumbled out into the fresh air which was spectacularly cold. His drunken mind equated this to his being in the kingdom of _snows_ and not the kingdom of _hots_.

 _“She's a beauty can't you see? She's attending this with me! She's my princess of the sea! Mermista!”_ Sea Hawk sang as he stumbled around aimlessly, his voice echoing across the parking lot for all to hear.

Not that very many people where around to hear it. The vast majority of people were still inside enjoying the party but his darling Mermista suggested he get some fresh air.

It was at this point that he felt the overwhelming need to throw up, so he stumbled to the nearest railing and emptied the contents of his stomach over the edge.

“Are you alright?” A concerned voice asked from behind him and Sea Hawk looked behind himself to see a concerned looking scorpion lady.

“Of course, I’m Sea Hawk! Of course I’m alright,” Sea Hawk slurred.

To prove this point he tried to walk forward, but then one foot went in front of the other and he tripped over them, ending up with a _lovely_ view of the night sky.

“Aw geez. Here, let me help you up,” the scorpion lady pulled Sea Hawk to his feet, although unfortunately this caused a massive rush of nausea. He did believe that he was going to throw up again.

“Hey, come on, let’s get you somewhere warm. I’m Scorpia by the way.” She pulled Sea Hawk up bridal style, and carried him towards a helicopter.

“This is the ride that me and Catra were lent for our mission,” Scorpia explained. “Not that you’d know about it of course. We’re looking for this girl named Adora, and you’re probably too drunk to care about this huh?”

Sea Hawk just latched onto the one word he recognised. 

“I know an Adora, she’s friends with Mermista.”

“Really? What’s she like?”

“She’s good … at arm wrestling,” Sea Hawk said. “Or maybe she cheats…? I can’t remember.”

Scorpia hummed neutrally as she set Sea Hawk inside the helicopter and placed a crate in front of him. “Here you can vomit in here, this crate’s mostly empty.”

“Thank you you’re very - hic- kind,” Sea Hawk yawned, suddenly feeling very sleepy.

“Really? You think so?”

“Of course yourse is very helpful,” Sea Hawk reassured her before, with all the grace of a dancing bear, he fell into the crate and landed inside.

“That hurt a little,” Sea Hawk told his new friend.

Scorpia nodded, “Yeah looked like it would have, so just, uh, wait here a second and I’ll get you a blanket.”

“That’s very nice of you,” Sea Hawk said before yawning. “I think I’ll take a lil nap…”

Within seconds his snores echoed throughout the ship.

* * *

Catra’s mood still hadn’t improved after her encounter with Double Trouble (which in her opinion was a stupid name anyway). At the moment she was by the punch with a drink that she still hadn’t touched. There had a close encounter with Adora as she passed right by the punch bowl; for a second Catra thought that she’d been spotted, but it was just a false alarm.

Right now Adora was talking to that geek Princess, the one with the purple hair, Trappy or something like that.

It was at this point that Scorpia returned, taking a place beside Catra and trying to get herself a cup. Unfortunately Scorpia’s lack of proper hands made this a difficult task, on top of that she was also holding a small plate of something that smelled delicious and that she was unwilling to set down.

“Let me,” Catra said as she filled up a cup for Scorpia and put it in her free pincer.

“Thanks, these claws are hard to use on things to designed for hands, you know?” Scorpia took a sip of her drink.

“Find out anything useful?” Catra asked.

“Not much, I followed that pirate guy with the moustache but he was drunk and only said that apparently Adora cheats at arm wrestling,” Scorpia reported.

One of Catra’s eyebrows raised, “How exactly can someone cheat at _arm wrestling_?”

Scorpia looked thoughtful. “Maybe she used two hands instead of one?”

“That’s more bluntly breaking the rules than cheating,” Catra shook her head. “Cheating would be having, like, a slightly elevated table or something.”

“I don’t know. I mean, position doesn’t mean too much in arm wrestling, it’s all about strength,” Scorpia argued. “Cheating would be using a robot arm instead of a real one.”

“Well I suppose it would depend on-” Catra cut herself off. “Wait, why are we talking about _how to cheat at arm wrestling_?”

“You brought it up.”

Catra scowled and discreetly checked Adora’s position. She and the geek Princess were sitting down at a table now.

“I did not,” Catra denied before changing the topic. “What is that stuff on the plate anyway?”

“Oh, it’s called ‘sushi’ and that just means it’s raw fish,” Scorpia explained. “Here, have some.”

Scorpia held out the plate and Catra snatched a piece off the plate and shoved it straight into her mouth without fanfare. It… wasn’t bad. Catra had another piece. Then another, and another, and another.

By time Catra actually looked down at the plate again it was empty.

Oops.

“Would you look at that,” Scorpia said. “Eh, I wasn’t that hungry anyway.”

“Thanks for the food I guess,” Catra said as she checked on Adora again. No changes.

“What are friends for?” Scorpia said.

Catra said nothing and instead returned to watching Adora. Minutes passed and Scorpia grew more and more clearly bored.

“Hey, Catra, let’s go dancing,” Scorpia suggested suddenly.

“No,” Catra said without missing a beat.

“But-”

“No.”

“Please?” Scorpia begged. “Adora isn’t moving and you look like you could use some fun.”

Despite herself, Catra hesitated. It would be nice to relax for a bit… and Adora wasn’t going anywhere yet.

“Fine,” Catra sighed before pointing sharply at Scorpia. “But only a little bit!”

“Yes!” Scorpia pumped her claws through the air before setting her glass and plate down. “Let’s go!”

“Wait-” Catra had barely gotten the word out before Scorpia had pulled her right to the dance floor, and the pair of them found themselves in the middle of a swarm of dancing people.

Catra might have been new to the concept, but she gave dancing her best shot, haphazardly moving her arms and legs around, trying to copy what she was seeing around her. But all of her movements were stilted to even her own eyes.

In contrast Scorpia seemed to grasp the flow much easier, with more naturally fluid movements and a look on her face that showed that she was clearly having fun.

Catra however was having her feet and tail trampled on constantly by fellow party goers, but every time she came close to declaring this activity done Catra would look over and see Scorpia having so much fun that she couldn’t bring herself to end it quite yet.

She wasn’t a monster after all.

This continued on for a few minutes until Catra’s ears caught something interesting from Adora’s table.

“Hey, would you mind if I went out and got some fresh air?”

“Of course not. I’ll come with you!”

Catra watched as the pair got up from their table and departed towards one of the side rooms.

This was their chance.

* * *

It wasn’t a lie when Adora said she needed air; the atmosphere of the party was starting to get a little claustrophobic. So the fresh air of the cool Snows countryside was a relief to Adora, even if cold was something of an understatement.

“It’s snowing,” Adora noted.

“Yes, it does look very pretty,” Entrapta noted. “There’s never this much snow in Dryl, which is good because it makes the lab _really_ cold.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much snow before,” Adora remarked as she started in awe at the flurry around them.

Entrapta hummed thoughtfully before her face lit up like a light bulb. “I’ve got an idea! Would you mind if I went to do something really quick?”

“Sure thing I’ll be here,” Adora said and Entrapta rushed off.

With Entrapta gone, Adora let out a quite sigh and stared out into the distance. The snow really was indeed pretty.

Deciding to follow her impulses Adora held out her tongue and tried to catch a snowflake on it.

It took a few minutes but Adora managed to do it, smiling and laughing after she did so.

_This… this was nice._

Adora’s smile got bigger at that thought, about relaxing and doing stuff like this. Attending parties, hanging about with Mermista, going on dates with Entrapta (even if neither of them still had no idea what a date actually was).

Then without warning, Adora was hit by something from behind on the head. An intense feeling of burning vibrations went through her body which Adora recognised as electrocution and Adora knew that she was about to lose consciousness.

But just before she did so, Adora heard soft words that made her blood run cold.

“Hey, Adora.”

Shock was the last thing she felt before falling into unconsciousness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of that chapter.
> 
> Happy Valentines day everyone, I think it's only fitting that this chapter is published today. Writer's block may have hit me like a truck but I'm pretty happy with the final product.
> 
> As always I'd like to thank My wonderful Beta Yours Truly Jezebel for looking over this chapter.
> 
> And I'd like to thank ya'll for reading, with extra thanks to those that comment/review, ya'll are groovy.
> 
> Next time Catra and Adora finally reunite, but till then I'll catch ya'll on the flip flop.


	11. Reunion

Catra waited anxiously for Adora to wake up.

This was it. The moment she’d waited over a year for, when her oldest friend would _finally_ be back safe and sound.

It was sort of ironic really. It used to be Adora who was waiting for Catra to get up so that they could go to training. Adora always had been a disgusting morning person.

And now it was Catra’s turn to wait.

Then Catra saw it. Adora stirred and ever so slowly got up; she looked around carefully and only stopped when she saw Catra. Then Adora smiled.

“Hey Catra,” Adora greeted her old friend. “How’re you doing?”

The question threw Catra off. She’d been expecting something else, like _anything_ else. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it, this repeated several times before she actually spoke.

“I’m good I suppose.” she scratched the back of her head. “Can’t really complain, all things considered.”

“That’s good.” Adora nodded with a peaceful smile. “That’s _really_ good.”

Yeah, something was definitely wrong here.

“Are you alright Adora?” Catra asked cautiously. Did she fry some brain cells when knocking Adora out?

“Absolutely fine,” Adora said, but even after more than a year apart, Adora was still a terrible liar.

“You’re acting weird,” Catra said bluntly.

“Weird…” Adora repeated with a slight chuckle. “Can’t I just enjoy this dream _without_ you insulting me for once?”

Catra felt her heart sink. Adora thought that she was dreaming? Catra faltered. How exactly was she supposed to react to this? The situation just felt unreal.

So with no real alternatives, Catra decided that her only real solution was to break this delusion as quickly as possible.

“This isn’t a dream.”

Adora looked confused and slightly distressed at Catra’s statement.

“No, of course it’s a dream. That’s the only way that this can make sense,” Adora said, more to herself than Catra.

“It’s _not_ a dream,” Catra emphasised. “Scorpia and I rescued you from the Princess Prom, this is _real_.”

“Real?” Adora asked, looking deeply confused, opening and closing her mouth several times before the confusion left her face and an unnatural calm replaced it. “ _Real_.”

“Yeah, you’re really here.” Catra looked at her best friend warily. “You’re back home and safe in the Fright Zone.”

That was all Catra was able to say before she found herself on the ground clutching a bloody nose.

Seems like Adora was as strong as ever.

“What the hell was that for?!” Catra shouted as she glared at Adora, who was currently standing over Catra with an expression of rage that Catra had never seen on Adora before.

“What the hell was that for? I don’t know, maybe it was the fact that you abandoned me and left me for dead?” Adora shouted as Catra got up, still clutching her bloody nose.

“That’s not how that happened,” Catra said as she pushed down the guilt inside her.

“It’s how I remember it,” Adora retorted. “Are you saying I’m wrong? Are you saying that you didn’t leave me to be found and beaten by Hordak?”

“It’s more complicated than-”

“No it isn’t,” Adora interrupted tersely. “In fact it’s very simple. _You_ left me behind to take the fall for us breaking into Hordak’s sanctum, _you_ just watched as I was exiled, _you_ kidnapped me and brought me here!” Adora yelled, her voice echoing across the room. “It’s all your fault!”

“I just wanted you to be safe,” Catra said quickly. “It wasn’t my idea to kidnap you from the Prom.”

“But I’m sure that you jumped at the opportunity,” Adora accused.

Catra wanted to say something, anything to refute Adora’s statements. But instead Catra found that they were correct, even if they were divorced from the context of the situation.

“It was more complicated than that,” was all she could say.

Adora for her part was now breathing heavily, tears threating to spill as she sat down on the bed.

A thick silence enveloped the room, neither of them willing to speak.

And then without so much as a word, Catra left the room. She needed to think.

That didn’t go as well as she’d hoped.

* * *

Despite Catra being gone and out of Adora’s sight, her mood hadn’t improved much.

She was back in the Fright Zone. This was _real._

How many dreams and nightmares had she had about this exact scenario?

But she was not panicking, no, absolutely not.

Sure Adora might be pacing up and down the length of the room with her arms crossed, looking side to side and hoping that no one else would come in.

But Adora was not panicking.

She stopped to look at the room and her frown intensified.

It didn’t look like it had changed since the day she was exiled. Anger swelled up in Adora. Did her exile not mean anything to them? Did it really not change anything?

Adora went back to her old bunk and looked intently at the old drawings that she and Catra made when they were younger. Her anger lessened a bit. Looking at them reminded her of happier times.

“Remembering old times?”

Adora turned sharply to see Shadow Weaver standing behind her and Adora smiled.

“Shadow Weaver, it’s really good to see you,” Adora said genuinely.

“And you as well,” Shadow Weaver said warmly as she put a hand on Adora’s shoulder. “It’s been far too long.”

“It has,” Adora agreed, feeling at ease for the first time since waking up.

After all this was Shadow Weaver, the woman that raised her. The one that taught her how to read, write and gave Adora pancakes for her birthday. The same person that tried everything in her power to stop Adora’s exile.

If there was anyone in the Fright Zone that was on Adora’s side, it was Shadow Weaver.

“And I must say, you’re thinner than I thought you’d be. I do hope that they feed you well in Brightmoon,” Shadow Weaver said as Adora’s eyes widened slightly.

“You know about that?”

Shadow Weaver nodded and let go of Adora, taking a seat on one of the bunks. Adora followed suit and sat down on the one opposite.

“Of course I did. Once I heard the rumours that you’d managed to escape I immediately tried to find you in order to make sure you were safe,” Shadow Weaver explained.

“They why didn’t you try to contact me?” Adora asked.

“It would have attracted Lord Hordak’s attention,” Shadow Weaver explained in a way that made Adora feel like she was a child being lectured again. “And of course I couldn’t contact you under such circumstances, but I saw that you were safe and that was enough for me.”

Adora smiled at Shadow Weaver’s words, but then it quickly became a frown.

“Then why…?”

“Why bring you here?” Shadow Weaver finished for her. “It was Catra’s idea, naturally.”

“But Catra said-”

Shadow Weaver snorted, “Catra was _lying_.”

Adora said nothing as Shadow Weaver elaborated.

“I remember the night of your exile like it was yesterday. Naturally, it was one of the worst in the Horde’s history,” Shadow Weaver recalled. “Except for one soldier. Catra was positively ecstatic after your departure. Finally, her only real rival was gone and as a result her scores skyrocketed.”

Shadow Weaver handed some test papers to Adora. She recognised the handwriting as Catra’s alright, but it was near full marks, something Catra never had in all the years Adora had known her.

“Yes, everything went well for Cadet Catra, or Force Captain Catra as she’s known now.”

Adora could only stare in shock. Catra was a force captain?

Huh.

If this was a year ago then Adora probably would have been happy for her friend and proud at how far she’s come. But now… right now all Adora could feel was a great deal of anger, anger that Catra had managed to get this promotion by pushing her out of the picture.

“It’s no surprise that Catra didn’t want you back,” Shadow Weaver continued.

“Then why did she come and kidnap me from the Prom?” Adora asked, noticing the discrepancy.

“Because it was a direct order from Lord Hordak himself,” Shadow Weaver explained. “But now that you’re here, I don’t doubt that she’ll be looking for some new way to be rid of you.”

“Great.” Adora slumped down on the bed. “What am I supposed to do now?”

“I have an idea for that,” Shadow Weaver said. “Follow me.”

Adora did as instructed, following her old mentor out of the room and around the corridors of the Fright Zone.

It was much like Adora remembered. Guards down every corridor, cadets rushing around, and many officers chatting with each other. She received many weird looks as she walked behind Shadow Weaver. Anxiety caused Adora to pick up her pace.

The walk was short and before she knew it, they were inside the Black Garnet chamber.

Adora stood off to the side as Shadow Weaver went around the room and from seemingly nowhere, pulled out the Sword Of Protection.

“I believe that you’re familiar with this.”

“How did you get that?” Adora asked as Shadow Weaver gave her the sword.

“Catra broke into the armoury to retrieve this as well,” Shadow Weaver explained. “And as I understand it _you_ are She-Ra now, yes?”

“That’s right.”

“Show me.”

“For the honour of Grayskull!” Adora complied as a blinding flash consumed the room and the rush of power that came from being She Ra flooded her body.

Shadow Weaver hummed neutrally and inspected Adora, looking at her up and down and front and back. Finally Shadow Weaver gave a curt nod and retrieved a book from a nearby shelf.

“Truly remarkable,” Shadow Weaver said. “I never thought that I would meet a true She Ra in my lifetime. And for it to have been you – well, I always knew you were special from the day I first saw you.”

Adora beamed at the praise.

“Thank you.”

“Of course, my dear. Now we should get to work as soon as possible.”

“Work on what?” Adora asked.

“I am going to teach you how to do magic,” Shadow Weaver said.

* * *

Sea Hawk’s head was swimming as he woke up, worse still his neck and various limbs hurt like hell.

It took him several moments to realise that this was because he had fallen asleep inside a crate with a blanket haphazardly thrown on top of him.

Not only that, but it was much warmer than what it was supposed to be.

Slowly and with a good degree of awkwardness, Sea Hawk climbed out of the crate into the interior cargo hold of an airship of some kind, he could tell by the tell tale noise of it’s loud engines.

He bristled slightly at the revelation. Airships were in his opinion completely inferior to _real_ ships like his Dragon’s Daughter in every way.

But ship preferences aside he needed to find out where exactly he’d ended up. Unless the kingdom of Snows was embroiled in a blazing fire, (something he’d most definitely _not_ caused by the way), then Sea Hawk was fairly certain that he was somewhere else.

His last memories were very hazy. He went outside and there was a scorpion lady…

That was the entirety of his memories, and he couldn’t begin to guess what had happened.

So he was alone in an area that was unknown to him and quite possibly enemy territory.

A grin erupted onto Sea Hawk’s face.

Mystery, intrigue, danger… this was a perfect recipe for ADVENTURE!

So with high spirits Sea Hawk crept out of the airship, bringing him to an open air hangar of some sort that seemed to be empty for the moment, with dozens of planes, helicopters and various airships lined up in military fashion. Beyond this smoke clouded the sky, and the buildings had a jagged type of design that made them look stitched together.

If the stories from his drinking buddies and own intuition were correct, then Sea Hawk was in the Fright Zone.

Splendid! He’d have cheered if it wouldn’t have given away his position, he’d signal-handily managed to infiltrate the heart of enemy territory without being detected.

Of course it would be nice to have a mission to go along with this infiltration…

As if acting on queue, a trio of patrolling Horde soldiers came by and Sea Hawk hid himself behind the crates just before they could spot him.

“Do you think it’s true?” one of them, the small blonde one, asked.

“I mean if she was lying then that would be pretty damn low, even for her,” the second, a darker-skinned girl that had a decent amount of muscle on her, said.

The final member of the trio, a green lizard man, said something in what sounded like incomprehensible growls to which the other two nodded.

“You’re right Rogelio,” the muscley girl one said. “She has changed a little bit, and I don’t think she’d pull our legs about _this._ ”

“It’ll be weird seeing Adora again after all this time,” the blonde boy said. “What do you think, Lonnie?”

Lonnie nodded absently as her face became thoughtful. Sea Hawk himself started to pay more attention to the conversation. This had just gotten _interesting._

“ _Of course_ it’ll be weird, Kyle,” Lonnie said. “I mean she literally was tried for _treason_ and sent to _Beast Island_ a year ago.”

Rogelio growled again and the other two laughed.

“Yeah, if anyone could come out the other side unscratched it would be Adora,” Lonnie agreed. “Remember the time when we were all running that combat sim and everyone was knocked down except Adora, but she managed to win us the exercise anyway?”

“Yeah, she used to set a new record time with every exercise,” Kyle said with an air of reminiscence around him.

Lonnie shook her head and waved the other two on.

“Come on, let’s continue with the patrol. No need to sour Shadow Weaver’s good mood.”

The Horde trio departed as Sea Hawk carefully watched them go, his grin as wide as it could stretch.

Adora had been captured, which was _great_ news! Well, not great for her, but it was good news for Sea Hawk. This was his big chance to be truly heroic and rescue his friend from the heart of enemy territory.

Perhaps upon their return he would receive some affection from his darling Mermista.

So Sea Hawk struck a cool and heroic pose as he started to plan in his head about how exactly this was going to go down.

Adora only had one hope to escape from the Fright Zone, and that hope was Sea Hawk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of that chapter.
> 
> Not much to say in terms of notes this time, just that we've finally had Carta and Adora's reunion which I hope everyone enjoyed. And of course Shadow Weaver's up to something, but what exactly? 
> 
> Next time The Princesses realise that Adora's missing, Sea Hawk attempts to sneak around the Fright Zone, Shadow Weaver tries to teach Adora the black arts and Catra tries to have a reunion where emotions aren't running as high. But till then I'll catch ya'll on the flip flop.


End file.
